Fox’s Lucas Tomlinson GRILLS Pentagon Spox John Kirby in Fiery, Tense Clash on Afghanistan: ‘Is It Not a Combat Zone?!’

Fox News’s Lucas Tomlinson clashed with Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday amid the Taliban taking over 18 of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals and the first of the 3,000 U.S. troops arriving in Kabul to help evacuate U.S. Embassy personnel and other Americans.

Kirby addressed Tomlinson by his first name 10 times during the tense exchange.

During the Pentagon press briefing, Tomlinson asked Kirby how he could say — as Tomlinson put it — “the Afghan forces have the advantage,” given that “the Taliban have taken over now vast majorities of the country and they’ve now surrounded Kabul.”

“That the Taliban have moved with the speed with which they have and that the resistance that they have faced has been insufficient to stop those, to check those advances, does not mean, Lucas, that the advantages aren’t still there. You have to use it. You have to be willing to apply it,” replied Kirby before Tomlinson interjected by saying, “doesn’t make any sense, John.”

“Yes, it does,” said Kirby.

Tomlinson said, “You’re saying that they have all the advantages as they’re getting crushed on the battlefield. It makes no sense to say they have the advantage. The Taliban appear to have all the advantages right now.”

A composed and respectful Kirby responded, “Lucas, I appreciate the effort, again. They have greater numbers. They have an air force. A capable air force, which, oh, by the way, is flying more air strikes than we are every day. They have modern equipment. They have organizational structure. They have the benefit of the training that we have provided them over 20 years. They have the material, the physical, the tangible advantages. It’s time now to use those advantages.”

Tomlinson then asked whether the Pentagon is prepared to “evacuate all Americans from Kabul and help close the U.S. Embassy in Kabul if the State Department requests it.”

Kirby replied, “Our mission right now is to help the State Department reduce their personnel, their civilian personnel. in Kabul and to assist with their acceleration of the SIV immigrant visa process, the Special Immigrant Visa process. That is what our focus is on right now.”

Tomlinson asked “how close” the United States close to closing its embassy in Afghanistan. Kirby said Tomlinson would need to ask the State Department.

Tomlinson then followed up on his own questioning during Thursday’s Pentagon press briefing, when he asked Kirby if those 3,000 U.S. troops are going to Kabul as “a combat deployment.”

Tomlinson asked if Kirby slept on that question to which Kirby said, “I didn’t sleep on that question, Lucas. I thought I answered it pretty well yesterday.”

Tomlinson insistently retorted, “You didn’t answer it, John. John, these soldiers and Marines, they’re fully kitted out. Putting on night vision goggles, landing in Kabul, taking positions at the airport. They’re going to a combat zone, are they not?”

“They’re certainly going into harm’s way, Lucas, and they will have …,” said Kirby before Tomlinson cut him off and asked, “Is it not a combat zone?”

A flustered-looking Kirby responded:

Lucas, they will have the right of self-defense. They will be armed and, as I said yesterday and I don’t think I could have made it any more clear, that if there is an attack upon our forces, our commanders have now and always have had the right and responsibility to defend themselves and any attack on our forces in Afghanistan will be met swiftly with a forceful and appropriate response. And I know – listen – I know you want to get into the nomenclature here. Nobody’s walking away from the fact that this is potentially dangerous. In fact, I think one of the things I said at the opening of the press conference was I’m not going to provide a lot of operational detail because we know it’s dangerous. We’re all mindful of the perilous situation in Afghanistan, and the deteriorating security situation, Lucas, and I find it a little – I find it frustrating that you’re trying to pin me down on a nomenclature here like we’re afraid to say the word ‘combat.’ After 20 years of being in Afghanistan, we understand what we’re facing right now. We’re taking the risks very, very seriously. And our troops and their leaders will have all the rights and responsibilities that they need to protect themselves and their comrades.

Kirby then declined to answer Tomlinson’s question about whether Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended to President Joe Biden “the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Kabul.”

Tomlinson contended, “Don’t you think it’s important for history, for the transcript, for the people watching this briefing right now, did the Defense secretary support the full U.S. Military withdrawal from Kabul?”

“Lucas, I’m not now, and I haven’t, never will, talk about the secretary’s advice and counsel to the commander in chief. That’s totally inappropriate. The president has made his decision, and we are executing that decision. He has also made additional decisions such as helping the State Department reduce their personnel and we’re going to support that too.”

Tomlinson then asked whether the United States should withdraw all Americans from Kabul and destroy the U.S. Embassy.

“I think that one of the great things about this country is that people are free to express their opinions about anything that they want,” responded Kirby. “What I’m here to do, Lucas, my job, is to articulate the policies that we’re executing and the way in which we’re executing them and that’s what my focus is today, to tell you what we’ve been ordered to do and how we’re going to execute those orders.”

Tomlinson repeated his question in which Kirby replied, “Lucas, we are focused on helping the State Department reduce their footprint in Kabul. That’s what we’re focused on and that’s what we’re going to be doing.”

The next reporter called on said he would “like to follow up on Lucas’s fourth question” – eliciting laughter in the briefing room.

“As opposed to the 14th?” said Kirby.

Watch above, via CNN.