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Americans, even after our military presence at the airport is gone because we know no matter how long the military presence stays, we're not going to be able to get everybody out. we need to have the option of getting more people out after that. and that is going to be very dependent, sadly, tragically, on the taliban cooperation because the taliban are running the country. so the hope is after august 31st, we build the relationship, you have a functioning airport, and you're still able to get people out. that's why the august 31st deadline is so important. if the taliban on september 1st star...

>> sec. of state psaki: our focus right now is on doing everything we can to get the remaining american citizens who want to depart out of the country. to get our afghan partners out of the country. this is not a preferred relationship or a situation that we would have designed if we had started from scratch. i think that is very clear. right now we need to coordinate, that is our focus next couple days. >> you said you think we will have a great deal of leverage over the taliban after we leave. do you think we will have more leverage with no troops on the ground in afghanistan than with thous...

0 evacuating more people from the country over the coming days and completing the mission to the 31st, and what it means to move to retrograde phase is that there is a rereduction of numbers through the coming days and we will tell you twice a day to show you how we are evacuating the people over the country and the numbers will be going down in the next couple of days and you should anticipate that as part of the retrograde process that needs to take place and the force protection is front and center and vital to the mission. >> one more, president biden told reporters in oval office when mee...

They've not yet made the decision to depart. maybe they're working on a range of projects. they're not ready to leave. it hard for us to understand as we look at the images. for many this is their home. yes, they're duel citizens. yes, it's our responsibility to make sure that we're reaching out to them multiple times. we're providing opportunity and finding ways to get them to the airport and evacuate them. it's also their personal decision to depart. >> could i follow up on some of the questions about refugees. >> sure. yeah. >> first, you talked about the vetting that is going on outside of...

Airport and i hope i'm framing this right but there's been the sense that i've heard i think from you and others in this administration that the taliban is by and large met its commitment to allow people with the right papers on to the airport. can you try to help americans that are seeing and what seems to be a disconnect between these two different statements of what is happening there. >> well, first let me say i wouldn't see it as a disconnect and let me explain to you why. i noted earlier that we put out earlier today that 19,000 people were evacuated. the vast majority -- in a 24-hour pe...