National security adviser doesn’t rule out more sending additional US troops to Afghanistan

National security adviser Jake Sullivan in an interview on Sunday would not rule out the possibility that more U.S. troops would be sent to Afghanistan to secure the airport in Kabul.   

“At the moment, we believe we have sufficient forces on the ground. But every single day, the president asks his military commanders, including those at the airport and those at the Pentagon, whether they need additional resources, additional troops. So far, the answer has been no,” Sullivan told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But he will ask again today.”

Sullivan’s comments come one week after the Taliban took control of Kabul. The fall of Afghanistan’s government has sparked chaos as U.S. citizens and allies attempt to evacuate the nation. About 6,000 U.S. troops that have been rushed to Kabul to help with evacuations have been largely confined to airport grounds.

Sullivan said on Sunday that if Americans are blocked from the airport in Kabul, or operations are disrupted by the Taliban, the U.S. response will be “swift and forceful.” 

When Todd asked Sullivan about military advisers telling Biden not to go ahead with an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan,  Sullivan said that it was a “presidential call.” 

“But when it comes to the fundamental question of whether the United States should remain in a civil war in Afghanistan with American men and women fighting and dying for a third decade, that is a presidential call, not a call by anyone at the Pentagon or the State Department or the intelligence community,” Sullivan said. 

WATCH: National Security Adviser @JakeSullivan46 says the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan “is a presidential call.” #MTP
Sullivan: It is “not a call by anyone at the Pentagon or the State Department or the intelligence.” pic.twitter.com/5FQoGZ94mH

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 22, 2021