President Joe Biden will once again only be taking questions from “pre-approved media” during his address and press conference on the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan.
Biden will be addressing the nation on his foreign policy blunder at 3:45 p.m. EST.
He’ll be taking questions only from pre-approved media, per White House. https://t.co/7p36c3flak
— Anders Hagstrom (@Hagstrom_Anders) August 16, 2021
It is unclear which media outlets have been “approved” and will make the cut.
President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki were all silent on Sunday as the Taliban took power, drawing harsh criticism from across the political spectrum.
On Monday, the White House announced that the president would be cutting his vacation at Camp David short to finally communicate with the American people.
Biden’s public schedule for Monday previously had only a closed briefing, nothing else.
Biden's public schedule for tomorrow ––> pic.twitter.com/sBimKVp9RY
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) August 16, 2021
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been under fire after emails to her were returned with an auto generated response saying that she would be out of the office for the next week.
The Taliban took Afghanistan’s capital on Sunday as Afghan military forces gave up almost immediately.
“President Biden was not prepared to usher in a third decade of war and put U.S. troops in harm’s way, fighting and dying, to try to hold Afghanistan together when its own armed forces would not fight to hold it together,” White House National Security Advisor said during an interview with CBS on Monday, following near silence from the administration on Sunday.
.@JakeSullivan46: "President Biden was not prepared to usher in a third decade of war and put U.S. troops in harm’s way, fighting and dying, to try to hold Afghanistan together when its own armed forces would not fight to hold it together.” pic.twitter.com/4ChT6EvT8L
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 16, 2021
Sullivan also asserted that “we have a proven ability to fight terrorism effectively without having a large military footprint on the ground – and we will hold the Taliban accountable to not allowing Al Qaeda to have a safe haven in Afghanistan.”
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan: We have a proven ability to fight terrorism effectively without having a large military footprint on the ground – and we will hold the Taliban accountable to not allowing Al Qaeda to have a safe haven in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/FTu3Qxla2A
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 16, 2021
The shocking images and videos from the war-torn nation have been eerily similar to those coming from Saigon in 1975.
Saigon 1975
Kabul today pic.twitter.com/JP7SNgq6Ra— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) August 15, 2021
