August 17, 2021, Afghanistan-Taliban news

President Biden hasn't spoken with any of his foreign counterparts since Kabul fell to the Taliban, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Tuesday. 

Sullivan said other members of the administration were making calls abroad instead because the discussions were more logistical.

Other world leaders have spent the last several days on the telephone with allies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have all conferred with each other.

Johnson, meanwhile, has proposed a virtual meeting of the G7.

But Biden has left the calls to foreign allies to those on his team.

"Myself, Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken, several other senior members of the team are engaged on a regular basis with foreign counterparts and we intend to do so in the coming days," Sullivan said. 

"Right now, the main issue is an operational issue," he added. "It's about how we coordinate with them to help them get their people out and we are operating through logistic channels and policy channels to make that happen."

Asked to explain further why Biden hadn't conferred with any of his foreign counterparts, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the current matters at hand fell below high-level talks. 

She said Biden would likely place calls to foreign leaders soon.

"If there is a benefit in the president picking up the phone and calling a world leader he will do that and I expect he will do that in the coming days," she said.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the Taliban has committed to allowing a “safe passage” for civilians heading to the Kabul airport.

“We are in contact with the Taliban to ensure the safe passage of people to the airport,” Sullivan said in his opening remarks at the White House briefing. 

Sullivan added that the administration believes this commitment will last until at least Aug. 31 and are currently in talks with the Taliban about the future.

“We believe that this can go till the 31st. We are talking to them about what the exact timetable is for how this will all play out, and I don't want to negotiate in public. I’m on working out the best modality to get the most people out in the most efficient way,” Sullivan said.

Asked later about reports about Taliban-run checkpoints outside of the airport, beatings and whippings for some who try to pass through, Sullivan said they are aware of those reports and concerned but are “taking it up” with the Taliban directly.

Earlier, officials said the US military had evacuated “more than 700 people, including 150 American citizens,” on Monday.

US National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that his "heart goes out to Afghan women and girls in the country today under the Taliban," but the decision to withdraw troops from the ground "wasn't a choice just between saving those women and girls and not saving those women and girls."

"The alternative choice had its own set of human costs and consequences," Sullivan said.

"Those human costs and consequences would have involved a substantial ramp up of the American participation in a civil war with more loss of life, more bloodshed, families here in the United States that would be asking a different form of the question you just asked," he told reporters.

"These are the choices a President has to make," he added.

Sullivan also noted that while US forces would not be present on the ground in Afghanistan, humanitarian efforts will continue in other capacities.

President Biden, who spent the weekend at Camp David, “worked throughout the entire weekend” monitoring the events unfolding in Afghanistan, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at Tuesday’s White House briefing.

“I was intimately familiar with his working habits over the course of the weekend, because I was on the phone with him constantly. Secretary Austin was on the phone with him, Chairman Milley, Secretary Blinken, the team in country,” Sulivan told reporters Tuesday when asked why Biden was not at the White House while the Afghan government collapsed.

Biden left for the presidential retreat Friday afternoon, where he spent the weekend. He returned to the White House briefly Monday afternoon, where he delivered remarks, before immediately returning to Camp David Monday night.

Sullivan told reporters at the White House that Biden convened the principals Thursday to discuss “the deteriorating situation on the ground in Afghanistan,” giving the order to flow forces into the region Thursday morning, before, in the following days, “we determined that we would go from step one of that contingency plan, which was about 3,000 troops, to step two of that contingency plan which was about 6,000 troops.”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani "is no longer a factor" when discussing the country.

During a White House briefing Tuesday he was asked by a reporter if President Biden felt he had a willing partner in Ghani.

Sullivan replied: "I won't characterize anything about president Ghani at this point who is no longer a factor in Afghanistan and I don't think there is much merit in me weighing in more deeply on him."

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked today about evacuation flights and the difficulty for some who are trying to get out of Afghanistan.

Sullivan said that the Biden administration believes that issues are being resolved and "we will be putting 300 passengers on your average military cargo plane heading out of the country."

On people being turned away, he said that "very large numbers" of people have been able to get to the airport and present themselves. 

Sullivan did not say who was behind the beatings.

"We are taking that up in a channel with the Taliban to try to resolve those issues and we are concerned whether that will continue to unfold in the coming days," Sullivan added. 

The evacuation of European Union nationals and Afghan citizens working with the EU is a key priority for the bloc, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell said in a press conference Tuesday. 

“The priority is to ensure the evacuation — in the best conditions of security — of the European nationals still present in the country, and also of the Afghan citizens who worked with us for more than 20 years, if they want to leave the country,” Borrell said. 

Speaking after a virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers, Borrell stressed that the EU will make “every possible effort” to ensure the security of all those who have worked with the EU. 

“We cannot abandon them. We will do – we are doing –  everything we can in order to bring them to and offer them shelter in the European Union’s member states,” Borrell said. 

“The European Union will also pay special attention to those Afghans whose security might now be in jeopardy due to their principled engagement for our common values,” he later added in a written statement.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters President Biden “is taking responsibility for every decision the United States government took with respect to Afghanistan because as he said, the buck stops with him.” 

“Now, at the same time, that doesn't change the fact that there are other parties here responsible as well, who have taken actions and decisions that helped lead us to where we are,” Sullivan told reporters at Tuesday’s White House Press Briefing. “So, from our perspective, what we have to do now is focus on the task at hand, the mission at hand,” he added pointing to ongoing efforts to evacuate Americans and Special Immigrant Visa recipients from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

In remarks from the White House Monday, Biden told reporters gathered in the East Room, “I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference. Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here. I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me.”

However, Biden also laid some of the blame with the previous administration, pointed to a deal he “inherited” that former President Trump brokered with the Taliban.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Biden administration is in contact with the Taliban about the situation in Afghanistan.

Sullivan said that the White House is also monitoring for any potential terrorist threats, including from ISIS.

"We intend to continue these operations over the coming days before completing our draw down," he said.

Some more context: Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed at a news conference earlier today that US military commanders have had communication with the Taliban.

"Our commanders in the operation have had communication with Taliban leaders," he said.