Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy has challenged Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki during a White House briefing for her comment mentioning that the Taliban was “businesslike and professional.”
Doocy highlighted during Thursday’s media briefing that the new Afghanistan government included someone as their interior minister who was on an FBI ‘Wanted’ poster and had a $10 million bounty over his head, and he asked about how this qualified as “professional” or “businesslike.”
“Can you please explain some more about why the Biden White House, in a comment, is saying that the Taliban is professional and businesslike?” Doocy said, in reference to a statement after the first commercial flights were allowed to leave Afghanistan carrying Americans and allies.
White House offers praise for Taliban in allowing first commercial flight out of Kabul with more than 110 people looking to leave Afghanistan: “They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them."
https://t.co/44Vco63grU— Dion Nissenbaum (@DionNissenbaum) September 9, 2021
Psaki replied that the comment was aimed at allowing the American people to know a flight had left the country and acknowledging that the Taliban cooperated and helped the move.
“We promised we would withdrawal Americans, we promised we would withdraw permanent residents out, we promised the same thing to our Afghan partners out and we promised to push the Taliban to allow them out and that is exactly what we accomplished,” she said.
“But you are saying that the Taliban is professional and businesslike. Their Interior Minister actually has an FBI poster. He has a $10 million bounty for him, that is — what is the business?” Doocy said.
“We are here to celebrate American citizens coming home who wanted to get out Afghanistan, of legal residents, and Afghans who fought with us,” Psaki said, adding that to make those flights happen, American leaders had to coordinate with Taliban officials.
“To get them out we had to partner with some people in the Taliban, to push them and coordinate in a businesslike fashion to get them out,” she said.
Doocy hit back, noting that the comment had called the flight a “good first step” and then asked what that step was going toward.
“Towards getting more people out who want to come home from Afghanistan,” Psaki said.
It seems the Biden White House almost has a more friendly attitude to the Taliban than it does with Trump supporters. Doesn’t it?
Author: Scott Dowdy