Media top headlines August 31
In media news today, critics resurface Biden ABC interview where he pledged to stay in Afghanistan until every American was rescued, Blinken gets knocked for avoiding questions after Afghan withdrawal speech, and Biden repeatedly implies he's not in charge of when, where he can take press questions
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was unsure Tuesday when asked on MSNBC whether the Taliban was now a "frenemy" of the United States or still considered an adversary.
On "Deadline: White House," Sullivan said the Taliban were not "nice guys" but had a vested interest in working alongside the U.S. to make the evacuation process go smoothly. Although the U.S. military left Afghanistan for good on Monday, there are still hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies and third-country nationals still stranded.
"Going forward I think they'll have an interest in responding to our requests because we have an enormous amount of leverage over them. We intend to use that leverage to keep getting people out," Sullivan said.
"Just on those lines, what is the Taliban?" Nicolle Wallace asked. "Are they now our frenemy, our adversary, are they our enemy, are they our – what are they?"
"Well, it's hard to put a label on it in part because we have yet to see what they are going to be now that they are in control, physical control of Afghanistan," Sullivan said. "They will in the coming days announce a government. That government is going to go around seeking diplomatic engagement, even recognition from other countries, including the United States. In fact, the Taliban spokesman today said he was looking for positive relations on behalf of the Taliban, especially with the United States. We're not just going to grant positive relations to the Taliban."
The Islamic fundamentalist group quickly took back control of Afghanistan this month as the U.S. began withdrawing troops and the Afghan government collapsed. Scenes of terror and panic ensued in Kabul as desperate Afghans tried to flee the country's coming authoritarian rule.
Afghans are skeptical of Taliban claims it will run the country more moderately than when it last had power 20 years ago, when it severely curtailed women's freedoms and ran the nation with an iron grip. There are already reports of forced marriages and executions since it seized power again.
Biden has received sharp criticism for his handling of the withdrawal, which also saw an Islamic State suicide bombing near the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members.
Wallace, an enthusiastic supporter of the Biden administration, ended her interview with Sullivan on a sympathetic note to the president, who spoke defiantly Tuesday about his handling of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Repeating the Biden talking point that he inherited the Trump administration's peace deal with the Taliban, Wallace complained the "foreign policy establishment and media" were unfairly criticizing him.
"This seems like a president exasperated," she said. "He did what he said he was going to do. He followed through on the exact same policy put in by his predecessor. It was Donald Trump who made this deal with the Taliban. Is there a feeling of frustration that some of the foreign policy establishment and media is piling onto this president when he's simply doing what he said he was going to do and following through on a deal made by the guy who came before him?"
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"I think what you heard today, Nicolle, was a president with conviction, genuine deep conviction. It starts in his gut, it goes to his heart and it occupies his head that the time had come for this war to end," Sullivan said.
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