Last week, Newsweek editor-at-large Naveed Jamali explained that just because the Taliban were keeping flights with American and Afghan ally passengers from leaving Afghanistan didn’t mean the Taliban were holding Americans and Afghan allies hostage.
Also @RepMcCaul was absolutely incorrect as characterizing any of these people as hostages. There is nobody being denied exit of the country, or being detained on a plane. Instead the Taliban has not granted clearance for the planes to leave. Spoke to two sources who confirmed.
— Naveed Jamali (@NaveedAJamali) September 6, 2021
Jamali went on to point out that it’s PLANES, not PEOPLE, being denied clearance to leave.
Also the PLANES are being denied clearance, not the PEOPLE. Yes that is a pretty big distinction.
— Naveed Jamali (@NaveedAJamali) September 6, 2021
Well, Naveed, we’ve got some tough news to break to you: not even Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has spent weeks denying that the situation in Afghanistan was as bad as it looked, can deny any longer what the Taliban is doing with those evacuation flights:
*BLINKEN: TALIBAN ARE NOT LETTING CHARTER FLIGHTS DEPART
— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) September 8, 2021
#Breaking @SecBlinken: "The Taliban are not permitting those charter planes to depart…we are working to do everything in our power to support those flights and get them off the ground."
— Cindy Saine (@cindysaine) September 8, 2021
.@SecBlinken says as of now, the Taliban is not permitting charter flights to leave. Says “we are working to do everything in our power to support those flights and get them off the ground.” #Afghanistan
— Ruffini (@EenaRuffini) September 8, 2021
Watch:
Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “The Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart.”
These flights include American citizens. pic.twitter.com/HbJVMAsFHt
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 8, 2021
Welp.
wait, I've reliably informed that the Afghanistan withdrawal was very successful https://t.co/SswpplW9Ft
— Dr. Ricardo Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) September 8, 2021
It would seem we were misled.
It turns out stranded was, in fact, the right word. https://t.co/YkeS6TnoiD
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 8, 2021
So was “hostages.”
so they are hostages
— Avram Froman (@avram_froman) September 8, 2021
I remember when we would call this a hostage situation.
— Dirk 🇺🇸 (@yobrownstar) September 8, 2021
It’s a hostage situation then.
— Mark O’Toole 🇺🇸 (@mark_patriot77) September 8, 2021
"Jen, I think people found out the folks we left behind are hostages" https://t.co/lFVm13WSJp pic.twitter.com/SFroA7xzsq
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) September 8, 2021
The cat’s out of the bag! Did Jen Psaki and the White House prepare for that contingency, too?
Did they actually prepare for any contingency at all?
If you aren't launching 4 dozen Tomahawks then you aren't "doing everything in your power." https://t.co/5GE82gt0Bv
— Federalist Muskrat 🇺🇸 (@Muskrat__) September 8, 2021
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet featuring video, and the headline has been amended to reflect that.