On Tuesday, President Biden made it clear that he would not extend the evacuation of Americans and allies past his arbitrary August 31 deadline. And with the military’s need to pack up their own stuff and Fox News warning that the military would leave in roughly three days, it was obvious Biden was ready to completely abandon Americans to their fate with the Taliban. And of the big three broadcast networks, ABC’s World News Tonight was the only one to explicitly address what Biden’s plan would result in.
While ABC wasn’t pulling punches, CBS Evening News seemed to either be holding out hope or trying to push the Biden administration’s gaslighting. In an exchange between chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes and anchor Norah O’Donnell, the former noted that “what we still don't know exactly, Norah, is how many Americans are left in Afghanistan who are still trying to get out.”
To which, Norah replied: “President Biden promised if there are any American citizens in Afghanistan he'll stay to get them out.” In reality, Biden said that August 31 was the hard out and the Taliban threatened action if the U.S. was still there.
NBC Nightly News came close to expressing the truth as it was but reported it as just the opinion of Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (D). “But a top Democrat argues it is ‘very unlikely’ the U.S. will be able to get all Americans and Afghan allies out in seven days,” reported chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander.
Meanwhile, on ABC’s World News Tonight, senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell was still in Kabul and pressed Americans generals there on Biden’s timetable and pointed out the reality of the situation:
PANNELL: How confident are you that all American citizens who want to leave, all Afghans who risked their lives to help us in this mission, will get out in the next seven days?
BRIG. GEN. FARRELL SULLIVAN (Marine Corps): What I can guarantee is that we will get as many out as we possibly can with the time we have available.
PANNELL: Which implies some will be left behind. Or could be.
SULLIVAN: I won't speculate on that. All I can say is we will get as many out as we possibly can.
Following the video portion of Pannell’s report, anchor David Muir wanted to know, “How do you get all the Americans out, all of the Afghans who helped us out, and U.S. troops out by one week from today?”
“And I just don't see how that is possible,” Pannell delivered the bad news. Though he suggested there was a very small possibility that “perhaps you can get all American citizens out.”
Further, Pannell warned that the logistical challenge surrounding a military withdrawal meant that troops would need to start packing long before the August 31:
But this is a huge base. There are thousands of troops here and it's going to take days just to get the troops out, to retrograde the base, and that means there's a very narrow window to get the people into the camp and out of the country. And it seems to me it's going to be almost impossible to guarantee that the Afghans who risked their lives to help us to get them out of the country.
It's become increasingly clear that that the Biden administration’s plan was to abandon Americans in hostile lands, then later declared that they didn’t “want” to leave because they didn’t make it to the airport. And while the media were being critical of Biden, they needed to accurately call out his abdication of duty to keep Americans safe and bring them home.
The refusal to call out the Biden administration’s willingness to abandon Americans with the Taliban was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Claritin on CBS and Advil on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
August 24, 2021
6:36:40 p.m. Eastern(…)
IAN PANNELL: At a press conference today, the Taliban announcing it's now blocking Afghans trying to leave the country from the airport, telling them to go home and claiming they want to protect people from terrorist threats at the airfield. The Taliban also rejecting any plans to extend the U.S. troop withdrawal. The announcement making the race to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies all the more urgent.
(…)
6:38:223 p.m. Eastern
PANNELL: Tens of thousands have now fled, but many still unable to get through. I pressed General Sullivan, who’s in charge of civilian evacuations on the base, whether all Afghans who helped the U.S. mission will be evacuated from the country.
How confident are you that all American citizens who want to leave, all Afghans who risked their lives to help us in this mission, will get out in the next seven days?
BRIG. GEN. FARRELL SULLIVAN (Marine Corps): What I can guarantee is that we will get as many out as we possibly can with the time we have available.
PANNELL: Which implies some will be left behind. Or could be.
SULLIVAN: I won't speculate on that. All I can say is we will get as many out as we possibly can.
[Cuts back to live]
DAVID MUIR: And so let's bring in Ian Pannell, reporting from the airport in Kabul for us again tonight. And Ian, I want to get back to what the President said just before we came on the air tonight, he said this August 31st deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops depends on the Taliban continuing to cooperate.
The President also saying he's mindful of the increasing risks on the ground there, not only from ISIS, but from the Taliban itself. So far, cooperating with the U.S., but the president said there's a serious risk of that breaking down at some point, as well.
Give us a sense here, you're at the airport. How do you get all the Americans out, all of the Afghans who helped us out, and U.S. troops out by one week from today?
PANNELL: I mean, that is the key question, David. And I just don't see how that is possible. Perhaps -- perhaps you can get all American citizens out. We've seen a massive uptick in the number of airlifts, people going through this site here. The Marines are working around the clock to try to facilitate getting people out of the country.
But this is a huge base. There are thousands of troops here and it's going to take days just to get the troops out, to retrograde the base, and that means there's a very narrow window to get the people into the camp and out of the country. And it seems to me it's going to be almost impossible to guarantee that the Afghans who risked their lives to help us to get them out of the country. David?
MUIR: Ian Pannell reporting from the Kabul airport. Ian, thank you.
