CNN’s Clarissa Ward Asks Pentagon Spox ‘Do I Have Your Word’ That Promises to Rescue Afghan Allies Aren’t ‘Hollow Words’

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward pressed Pentagon press secretary John Kirby about the rescue of Afghan allies, asking him “do I have your word” that assurances being given aren’t just hollow promises.

Mr. Kirby gave an extensive interview to CNN”s New Day Tuesday morning in which he told anchor John Berman that the U.S. will be able to move 5,00-9,000 people per day out of Kabul, and promised that the U.S. will do everything in its power to get our Afghan allies out.

Toward the end of the interview, Berman brought in Ms. Ward, whose on-the-ground reporting has been indispensable, to ask Kirby a few questions.

Ward began by telling Kirby that “I’m the one who’s here on the ground talking to Afghans every day and “has to look them in the eye,” and asked, “Can I offer them your assurance that everyone who has worked with American organizations will be got out of this country safely?”

“Clarissa, first of all, thanks for your incredibly brave reporting and the and the images and the stories that you’re telling,” Kirby began, and went on to say that for those who go through the State Department process, “we in the Pentagon will do everything we can to help get them out of the country over the next couple of weeks.”

“That’s what we’re flowing in extra aircraft for. That’s why we’re flying in extra troops to maintain security at that airport so that we can do that,” Kirby said.

“To most Afghan people that I’m talking to, John, that’s going to sound like hollow promises,” Ward said, reiterating the criticism she made following President Joe Biden’s speech Monday, and asked “Can I have your word? These people are depending on you. They are depending on America. Their lives are at threat. They have given everything to work with America, to rebuild this country. And now they are asking simply for an assurance that they will not be cast aside, they will not be abandoned, that America will step up and take responsibility for the lives that are in its care at the moment.”

Kirby replied that “There’s nothing hollow about the obligation that we know we have to these Afghans who so bravely helped us over the last 20 years, believe me, nobody in the United States government more than the Pentagon understands that obligation to these individuals.”

“What about people whose paperwork has been turned down?” Ward asked, and went on to add “Are you going to retroactively go back and look at these applications again?”

Kirby replied that he couldn’t speak directly to that process because it’s a State Department process,  but said “I know the State Department is very, very focused on this and working very hard to process these applications as fast as possible.”

He concluded by saying “We understand that time is a critical factor here. We understand that numbers are a critical factor here. And I can assure you we’re working on this as hard as we possibly can.”

Watch above via CNN.