BY jamie mcintyre

THE GROUND TRUTH? To hear the Pentagon tell it, the massive airlift operation at the Kabul airport is going about as well as could be expected. The airport is safe and fully operational, thanks to 5,000 U.S. troops. American citizens are getting through the Taliban checkpoints. And thousands of people, including Americans, foreign nationals, and Afghans, have been evacuated since the Afghan capital fell five days ago.

“Since the start of evacuation operations on Aug. 14, we have airlifted approximately 7,000 total evacuees,” Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters at yesterday’s briefing. “This increase is reflective of both a ramp-up of aircraft and airlift capability, faster processing of evacuees, and greater information and fidelity in reporting.”

Yes, there have been some problems getting Afghans through the Taliban gauntlet on the airport road, conceded Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, but he said the United States is working with the local Taliban commander to sort it all out. “It comes down a lot to the credentialing and making sure that they can prove, and we can prove, that these are appropriate people to move through. And we have indications this morning that that process is working.”

‘THE AUDIO DOESN’T MATCH THE VIDEO’: But videos on social media tell a different story. A chaotic scene, with crowds massed at the gates to the airport, many waiting for hours with no one to clear them in. In one heart-rending video, a desperate mother passed her baby through the crowd, which lifted the baby over a barbed wire-topped wall to American troops.

Many planes are leaving half empty, according to Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul. “My numbers are that they're 10,000 to 15,000 Americans, and only 20% of those have actually escaped out of the Kabul airport,” McCaul told Fox News. “Meanwhile, the Taliban has circled the perimeter and are beating people with chains as they try to get into the perimeter to get on one of these flights.”

The cognitive dissonance prompted one frustrated reporter, Helene Cooper from the New York Times to tell Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley earlier this week, “It feels like the video is not matching the audio right now.”

‘GO GET THEM’: Frustration is building in Congress as well, with Republicans and Democrats alike calling for more robust efforts to escort Americans through the Taliban patrolled streets of Kabul.

“Stop asking the Taliban for permission and let's go bring the Americans home,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Sean Hannity on Fox last night. “The idea that our military's saying they don't have the capabilities to go out, yes, they do. We just need the will, and I think all Americans should stand for that.”

The pressure for the U.S. to do more increased once it was revealed that both British and French special forces have been going into the city to collect their citizens from secure locations.

“We cannot wait for Americans to find their own way. Go get them. It’s the duty of the commander-in-chief,” Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement. “Naively hoping the Taliban gives Americans and our allies safe passage to Kabul’s airport is not a plan — it’s a hostage situation. We have better options.”

Later, on Fox radio, Sasse put it even more bluntly: “Trusting the Taliban to get access to the airport is like trusting Hitler to give access to the beaches of Dunkirk. This is insane.”

Last night, Fox anchor Bret Baier asked Kirby why, if the British paratroopers can get in vehicles and go get their people, the U.S. can’t.

“We have not seen any great impediments to the safe passage that the Taliban have agreed to facilitate. Americans are getting through those checkpoints, and they are getting on to the base, on the airfield, and they are being flown out of Kabul,” Kirby said. “I won't speak to potential future operations that may or may not be conducted. What I can tell you is the operation we're conducting now — and that is to keep that airfield open and running. And Americans are getting through the lines. They are getting onto planes.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Good Friday morning, and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Max Thornberry. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

HAPPENING TODAY: President Joe Biden will be huddling with his national security team at the White House this morning, including Austin, Milley, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be briefed on “intelligence, security, and diplomatic updates on the evolving situation in Afghanistan,” according to the White House.

Then, at 1 p.m., Biden will deliver remarks to provide an update on the evacuation of American citizens and their families, SIV applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans, before flying to Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend.

ALSO TODAY: NATO MEETS IN EMERGENCY SESSION: NATO foreign ministers are meeting in an “extraordinary” virtual session this morning to discuss the effort to get their people out of Kabul as well as relocate Afghan refugees.

The U.S. evacuation plans, which began without much consultation with NATO, took NATO nations somewhat by surprise. Biden spoke by phone yesterday with French President Emmanuel Macron and, according to the White House, “underscored the importance of continued close coordination among allies and democratic partners on Afghanistan.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has a news conference scheduled for 8 a.m. Washington time.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION KEPT UK 'IN THE DARK' ON EVACUATION PLANS AFTER KABUL FELL: REPORT

McCAUL CALLS FOR BRIEFING ON CABLES: McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is calling for a classified briefing following a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul warned the State Department in July of rapid gains by the Taliban and the urgent need for an evacuation.

“For months, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have been pleading with the Biden Administration to evacuate as many of our Afghan partners as possible before the Taliban found them and killed them. They ignored our calls,” McCaul said in a statement. “If these reports are true, it means this Administration also willfully ignored the pleas of their own people on the ground in Kabul and their warnings of how dire the situation truly was.”

“Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee need a full briefing on these cables and any other warnings President Biden and Secretary Blinken may have received prior to this heartbreaking crisis they created. And we need it immediately,” he said.

US DIPLOMATS SENT MEMO URGING SWIFT EVACUATION OF AFGHAN ALLIES WEEKS BEFORE TALIBAN TAKEOVER

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Mistakes were made: The series of missteps and flawed assumptions led to the debacle in Kabul

Washington Examiner: US diplomats sent memo urging swift evacuation of Afghan allies weeks before Taliban takeover

Washington Examiner: US fighter jets in position to conduct airstrikes over Kabul if needed

Washington Examiner: Biden administration kept UK 'in the dark' on evacuation plans after Kabul fell: Report

Military.com: 'Was It Worth It? Yes. Does It Still Hurt? Yes.' Marine Leaders Reassure Troops on Afghanistan

AP: Afghan officer who fought with US forces rescued from Kabul

Marine Corps Times: Marine Wounded In Afghanistan During First Days Of Airport Defense

Bloomberg: Idled Planes, Flawed Uniforms: How U.S. Blew Cash in Afghanistan

New York Times: Hunted by the Taliban, U.S.-Allied Afghan Forces Are in Hiding

Defense One: Trump’s Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says

Air Force Magazine: 25% of Afghan Air Force Fled, Remainder in Disarray, Sources Say

Wall Street Journal: Putin Rebuffed U.S. On Central Asia Bases

Military.com: DoD Records Deadliest Week of the Coronavirus Pandemic; Five Service Members Lost

USNI News: Navy Surgeon General Expects Little Resistance to COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement from Sailors, Marines

Reuters: U.S. Position On Taiwan Unchanged Despite Biden Comment - Official

Bloomberg: Kamala Harris’ Trip To Asia Will Show U.S. Is In The Region ‘To Stay’

Washington Times: China Sends Bombers Into Taiwan Air Defense Zone

Air Force Magazine: Skunk Works Will Hand Off ARRW Production to Missiles and Fire Control

Task & Purpose: ‘This is what we live for’ — Air Force C-17 crews jump at the chance to help others in Afghan airlift

Navy Times: USS Arlington, Navy Surgeons, Head To Haiti, While A Joint Task Force Provides Disaster Relief

19fortyfive.com: Opinion: America's Military Bases Are Slowly Falling Apart (Really good issue no one is talking about by Mackenzie Eaglen from AEI)

19fortyfive.com: 5 Things the U.S. Military Got Right In Afghanistan (Dan Goure)

Air Force Magazine: Opinion: Jumper: Time for ‘a New Reckoning’ on Air and Space Power

The Cipher Brief: Opinion: This Doesn’t Need to be Defeat. But at the Moment, it Damn Well Feels Like It

Calendar

FRIDAY | AUGUST 20

12 p.m. — Middle East Policy Council virtual discussion on "what to expect from Taliban rule, containing the terrorist threat and a possible humanitarian crisis,” with former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann; and Bassima Alghussein, executive director of MEPC. Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/user/MidEastPolicy

MONDAY | AUGUST 23

10 a.m. — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum, with Stephen Blank, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute; and Peter Huessy, director for strategic deterrent studies at the Mitchell Institute. Video posted afterward at https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/nuclear-deterrence

ADVERTISEMENT