More evidence of Joe Biden’s total failure in Afghanistan surfaces as the Pentagon admits that nearly 450 Americans remain trapped in the beleaguered nation now controlled by the fanatical Taliban.
The latest tally – far more than the president has claimed — came from Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, after Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., pointed to what he believed were contradictory or at least “confusing” numbers that the administration has presented since the August 31 withdrawal.
“One of the many confusing things about this whole thing is that we really don’t know how many Americans are left in Afghanistan,” Inhofe said. “The administration’s number of U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan keeps changing. We all understand that. It’s very confusing.”
Inhofe noted that the Biden administration “always said 100 to 200 U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan,” but now says it “has already withdrawn 234 and is in contact with 363 others, 176 of whom want to leave,” citing numbers the State Department provided last week.
“Now, if we can figure this out, you’re doing a lot better than I have done,” Inhofe said.
Kahl gave a thorough response detailing the numbers he had of how many Americans were in Afghanistan and had gotten out, eventually leading to the number of those who remain.
“In terms of how many American citizens we estimate are currently in Afghanistan, the Department of State is in contact with 196 American citizens who are ready to depart –and arrangements are being made for them to do so, either via air or over ground – and another 243 American citizens have been contacted and are not ready to depart, either because they want to stay in Afghanistan or aren’t ready,” Kahl said.
This total of 439 American citizens still in Afghanistan is up from the 363 the State Department had told congressional staff last week – which itself was up from the estimate of roughly 100 the administration had said in September.
These numbers change and go up faster than gas prices under the Biden administration!