Chris Wallace Confronts Pentagon Spox on Afghanistan Withdrawal: Taliban Taking Over Is ‘Certainly a Possibility’

Chris Wallace pressed Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Sunday over potential consequences of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

There has been some criticism of the withdrawal, and Wallace brought up the recent advances by the Taliban as he questioned Kirby on the results of the president’s decision.

“Are you surprised that the Taliban is making these kinds of sweeping advances so quickly?” he asked.

Kirby said they’re “watching with deep concern” the “momentum” the Taliban has right now. “We’re not unmindful of that, Chris.”

“Which is why we are, again, working with our Afghan partners to encourage them to use the capacity and the capability that we know they have. And we know that they know how to defend their country. This is a time for them to step up and to do exactly that,” he continued.

Wallace noted that it’s “certainly a possibility” that the Taliban could end up “taking over the country,” and he asked if that would “increase the terror threat to the U.S. homeland.”

At one point Wallace raised the issue of what could happen to women and girls in Afghanistan if the Taliban does take over.

“What happens if the Taliban takes over and puts all of those girls and women back under sharia law, puts the women back under the burqa? Are we really in effect saying that’s not our problem?” he asked.

“I think the progress of women and girls in Afghanistan is the world’s problem. It’s everybody’s problem,” Kirby said.

He reiterated that they’re calling for “a negotiated political solution to the end of this war that is Afghan-led,” one that “is not imposed on them outside the country.”

Kirby also pointed to the U.S. keeping diplomats in Kabul to continue their work.

You can watch above, via Fox News Sunday.