New footage emerged from Afghanistan this week showing a TV host flanked by armed Taliban Guards urging the public to “not be afraid” and cooperate with the organization.
The video comes just days after a “complex terror attack” killed 13 US Service Members and 170 Afghan civilians.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Sean Hannity Thursday on the escalating chaos unfolding in Afghanistan, saying the Trump administration maintained enough resources to ensure “something like this wouldn’t happen.”
“Knowing and seeing and watching in real time, the Taliban on the march like this, I understand people were telling the White House to get out now,” said Hannity.
“The possibility that the Afghan Army would collapse was always something that senior leaders were deeply aware of,” said Pompeo.
“We took actions that would reduce the risk that something like this would happen… We haven’t had an American killed since February 2020. We had enough resources in theater that something like this wouldn’t happen,” he added.
Watch the footage above.
??????: Biden Launches Incoherent 3-Minute Rant Over Whether Americans Can Get Out of Afghanistan
President Biden held a disastrous press briefing Friday when he finally took answers from the media; launching into a three-minute rant about whether Americans can safely reach the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
“You said there’s no circumstances where American citizens cannot get to the airport. That doesn’t square with the reporting on the ground. Are you saying any American who wants to get to the airport can get there?” asked one reporter.
“I thought the question was, how can they get through the airport, outside the airport, the answer is, to the best of our knowledge, the Taliban checkpoints, they are letting through, people […] That’s why we had to, I guess yesterday, or the day before? We went over the wall, and brought in, how many?” said the Commander-in-Chief.
“My guess is, no matter what, under what circumstances, we, anyone, there’s not a whole lot of Afghanis, there’s a whole lot of Afghanis who just as soon come to America,” he concluded.
A report from Reuters highlights the scope of the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan as the agency claims the Taliban now control 2,000 American-made vehicles and between 30 and 40 aircraft.
“U.S. officials tell Reuters that the current intelligence indicates that the Taliban control at least 2,000 U.S.-made armored vehicles, between 30 and 40 aircraft and an untold number of small arms,” writes a reporter from the global news agency.
“Joe Biden creates the Taliban Army and Air Force,” posted former Trump official Richard Grenell on Twitter.
Watch the bizarre comments above.
CHAOS KABUL: US Troops Kill 2 Gunmen at the Airport, Biden to Address the Nation at 3:45PM
US Troops shot and killed two armed gunmen at Kabul’s Airport Monday as thousands of Afghans attempted to flee the country while the Taliban rapidly seizes control.
“In separate incidents at the airport on Monday, U.S. troops shot and killed two armed men at the airport and at least three Afghans clinging to the side of an Air Force jet were run over and killed,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
At least 7,000 US Soldiers will be deployed to protect the airport and evacuate American citizens in the days ahead.
President Biden will address the nation at 3:45 from the White House.
Biden will address the country today, as Afghans clinging to US planes fall to their deaths in Kabul. Hard to script a worse propaganda victory for our enemies as we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11. There is nothing Biden can say now to right the wrong of his failed policy.
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) August 16, 2021
A reporter on CNN described the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan’s capital city Monday; telling viewers the Taliban fighters are chanting “Death to America” but they “seem friendly at the same time.”
“The Taliban fighters have flooded the capital. Smiling and victorious, they took the city of six million people in a matter of hours, barely firing a shot,” says the narrator.
“They tell us they’re here to maintain law and order,” she adds. “They’re just chanting ‘Death to America’ but they seem friendly at the same time.”
CNN REPORTER ON TALIBAN: "They're just chanting 'death to America,' but they seem friendly at the same time."
The same reporter then says the Taliban have a "welcoming spirit" as they wave rifles in the air.
Yes, this is a real clip. pic.twitter.com/VdXWplr8V2
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 16, 2021
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan weighed-in on the chaos engulfing Afghanistan Monday; admitting the Biden administration was caught off-guard by the “speed” of the Taliban advance.
“The president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan,” Sullivan told ABC News. “He thought the Afghan national security forces could step up and fight because we spent 20 years, tens of billions of dollars, training them, giving them the best equipment, giving them support of U.S. forces for 20 years.”
“When push came to shove, they decided not to step up and fight for their country,” Sullivan added.
Scenes of panic and chaos played out at the airport in Kabul as crowds of people desperate to escape Afghanistan rushed onto the tarmac.
Some clung to the sides of planes, even as one taxied down the runway, in a bid to flee the Taliban.https://t.co/pAgoGW7tos pic.twitter.com/4YGQd2iEzk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 16, 2021
“We planned for a wide range of contingencies, one of those was the need to flow in a substantial number of forces to secure the airport and be able to facilitate that evacuation,” Sullivan explained. “We have now successfully drawn down the U.S. embassy in Kabul. We have moved all of those personnel either to the airport or out of the country. And we flowed in several thousand troops who had been prepositioned in theater for precisely this purpose.”
BREAKING: Seven people are dead amid the chaos at the Kabul airport, including some who fell from a departing American military transport jet, senior U.S. military officials say. https://t.co/2JPKZXpx4n
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2021
“We are working to do that, first, by securing the airport today and then in the days ahead, by taking people out one flight a time, flight after flight,” Sullivan said. “We fully intend to continue an evacuation process to bring out people who worked alongside of us in Afghanistan.”
Biden to address nation on Afghanistan "soon" https://t.co/sUMBFFi2Za pic.twitter.com/SbvXd4d3zT
— The Hill (@thehill) August 16, 2021
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.