During a contentious exchange with Biden State Department Spokesman Ned Price on Friday, MSNBC’s usually reliable Democratic Party shill Andrea Mitchell lost her patience with the administration flack’s nonsensical talking points on the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan. Amid Price’s absurd suggestions that Taliban terrorists could be countered with diplomacy, Mitchell decried that “people are being beheaded” by the brutal murderers.
In her first question to Price, Mitchell referenced “reports from our own embassy that there have been beheadings, there have been executions,” carried out by the Taliban across the war-torn nation and that they “are going door to door” assaulting women. The anchor pressed:
...women are texting and calling colleagues of ours here in Washington saying the situation is dire, that they’re being targeted. Girls are being taken hostage as, quote, “child brides.” We would call that kidnapping and rape. What is our moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan?
Price rambled about how the State Department was “focused on the diplomatic front” and “that any government that takes Afghanistan by force, that takes power by force, won’t be recognized” by the international community. Mitchell scoffed at his remarks, which were totally detached from the dire reality:
But Ned, the Taliban is already – excuse me, but to just that point – the Taliban is already being received as official diplomats in Beijing, in Moscow, in Tehran. So for all of those promises, even if they cared about recognition, they are accomplishing on the ground all of the recognition they need. They are imminently going to get the capital itself and they’re already being recognized by – by China and Russia for sure.
Still insisting that the militant thugs cared about their global reputation, Price declared: “It actually means something that the world is coming together in a single voice to say this is not something that we can countenance, this is not a kind of force that will garner legitimacy from the international community.”
Mitchell was clearly exasperated as she emotionally reiterated the desperate situation Afghan women and girls were facing in the collapsing country:
But on the ground, women are being killed, they’re being targeted for doing what we asked them to do. What we encouraged them to do for 20 years, to join civil society, to get educated, to leave their villages, defy their fathers. I’ve seen it myself, I’ve been there....don’t we have a moral responsibility to do something for these people?...We all know that, but we’re seeing it on the ground in real time. People are being beheaded and that’s coming from embassy Kabul.
The catastrophe in Afghanistan is obvious to the entire world and is a direct result of President Biden’s reckless foreign policy. Even the left-wing media can no longer look the other way and excuse the administration’s clear failure.
Here is a transcript of August 13 exchange:
12:04 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining us now is State Department spokesman Ned Price. Ned, you’ve heard the reports from the field. You have, of course, all of the information at your disposal and there are reports from our own embassy that there have been beheadings, there have been executions. That the Taliban, as you just heard, are going door to door, women are texting and calling colleagues of ours here in Washington saying the situation is dire, that they’re being targeted. Girls are being taken hostage as, quote, “child brides.” We would call that kidnapping and rape. What is our moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan?
NED PRICE: Well, Andrea, the reports that have emerged from Afghanistan not only in the recent days, but recent weeks, have been incredibly disturbing, gravely disturbing. We are gravely concerned by what we’re hearing. And we are doing everything in our power to try to put an end to this violence and give some semblance of hope, security, stability to the people of Afghanistan.
Let me explain to you a couple of the things we’re doing. First and foremost, the State Department, we are focused on the diplomatic front. Just this week, our team has been in Qatar meeting with countries from the region and in fact, well beyond. We have seen a very strong consensus emerge from this large constellation of countries and international organizations, to include the U.N., that any government that takes Afghanistan by force, that takes power by force, won’t be recognized. That’s very important. It’s a very important signal to the Taliban and it’s a very important signal...
MITCHELL: But, Ned –
PRICE: ...about the lack of durability that any government that seeks to take Afghanistan by force would have. Second, we continue –
MITCHELL: But Ned, the Taliban is already – excuse me, but to just that point – the Taliban is already being received as official diplomats in Beijing, in Moscow, in Tehran. So for all of those promises, even if they cared about recognition, they are accomplishing on the ground all of the recognition they need. They are imminently going to get the capital itself and they’re already being recognized by – by China and Russia for sure.
PRICE: Well, I can tell you exactly what China and Russia have said publicly, including in recent days. They will not recognize any government that takes power in Afghanistan by force. And that’s about legitimacy. Legitimacy is one thing, it’s a virtue, but what legitimacy actually translates into are very practical implications for the Taliban. If the Taliban continue down this path, if they don’t respect fundamental human rights, if they continue with these atrocious, atrocious acts and attacks against their own people, they won’t have international assistance. They won’t have the sanctions removed, they won’t have the ability to travel. That actually means something, Andrea. It actually means something that the world is coming together in a single voice to say this is not something that we can countenance...
MITCHELL: But Ned, Ned –
PRICE: ...this is not a kind of force that will garner legitimacy from the international community.
MITCHELL: But with all due respect, and I know you’ve been – you’ve been – it is the position of the State Department, it’s your job, you’ve been answering these questions for a week or more – well, longer than that. The State Department has been saying that we’re appealing to them to – you know, about the importance of legitimacy. But on the ground, women are being killed, they’re being targeted for doing what we asked them to do. What we encouraged them to do for 20 years, to join civil society, to get educated, to leave their villages, defy their fathers. I’ve seen it myself, I’ve been there. And I mean, I know this is not your sole job, but you are the person that is speaking for the U.S. government right now, and don’t we have a moral responsibility to do something for these people? Just today, the White House repeated the President is not going to change his position. He’s been consistent on that, even when he was vice president that was his position, he disagreed with the surge. We all know that, but we’re seeing it on the ground in real time. People are being beheaded and that’s coming from embassy Kabul.
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