"Well, I would say first, we've sent out, as Secretary Blinken noted, 19 messages to American citizens over the course of the last few months," he replied. "We’ve also done a great deal of outreach and advertising, providing information for anyone who wants to leave, including the offering of financial assistance in recent weeks for people who want to leave Afghanistan."
"But what I also would note, and this is an important caveat. It is possible there could be Americans who have not yet contacted us who we don't know about. And that's why we want to leave optionality because of our responsibility to help these Americans depart," she continued.
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"So earlier, you said that the administration is looking at a range of options to get Americans out after the 31st. And then I believe you said that the President did receive the contingencies he had asked for," Psaki was then questioned by Talcott.
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"I would put those in two different categories, because the contingency plans he requested would be for optionality to stay longer than the 31st," Psaki answered. "That was something he asked for. I'm talking about beyond when the military leaves for the option of allowing Americans to depart or others who apply who are eligible for programs."
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"So is there currently a set contingency specifically for Americans left in the country after August 31? Or is that still being worked out?" Talcott retorted.
"Okay, so I want to make sure I'm not confusing anyone," Psaki responded. "So the contingency plans the president requested was to have maximum optionality given there are a range of factors, including the threat of ISIS K, which is very much on his mind, and a threat to our us men and women who are serving, including the need for the Taliban to continue to coordinate that is about staying longer than the 31st."
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"Those are the contingency plans," she stressed.
"I also spoke to, and Secretary Blinken also spoke to the fact that we were also looking for options, post the departure of our military presence to allow for Americans and others who are eligible to programs to evacuate," Psaki added. "That is something we're working through and having discussions about and as we have more to update, we will provide that too, but I would look at them as two separate things."
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Psaki expressed a similar statement in a press conference yesterday, when asked a similar question regarding efforts to get Americans out of Afghanistan after August 31.
"Our commitment continues to be to US citizens, if they want to leave, we will get them out," said Psaki.
"It doesn’t matter what date?" the reporter pressed. "Again, we expect there could be some, but I’m not going to get into it further," Psaki concluded.
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