Decision. Reporter Biden Hasnt shown any sign he believes his decision to pull most u. S. Troops from afghanistan triggered the current crisis. Instead, shifting blame to afghans. Afghanistan, political leaders gave up and fled the country. The afghan military collapsed sometimes without trying to fight. I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the taliban. Reporter sullivan insisting biden isnt trying to pass the buck. As he said, the buck stops with him. That doesnt change the fact that there are other parties here responsible as well who have taken actions and decisions that helped lead us to where we are. Reporter and at this hour, President Biden remains at Camp David where officials insist he is following the situation in afghanistan by the hour. But one thing that President Biden is not doing is speaking with any foreign leaders. Since the fall of kabul he has not spoken with any foreign leaders. Those conversations have been happening at Sullivans Level as well a
Swiftly kabul would fall. this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. reporter: but no one in his administration has explained how the u.s. was caught so flatfooted after nearly two decades at war. sources told cnn it s a question biden put to his team during briefings, answers have been harder to come by, amid internal finger-pointing. sullivan said the taliban have promised safe passage for civilians to the airport. but he refused to commit to evacuating every american in kabul after the planned august 31st withdrawal. so i m not going to comment on hypotheticals. i m going to stay focused on the task at hand which is getting as many people out as rapidly as possible. reporter: behind the scenes a senior white house official acknowledging our competence is being questioned. telling cnn the only way to fix that is to stabilize the airport and safely withdraw americans and our partners to the best of our ability. i stand squarely behind my
Decision. reporter: biden hasn t shown any sign he believes his decision to pull most u.s. troops from afghanistan triggered the current crisis. instead, shifting blame to afghans. afghanistan, political leaders gave up and fled the country. the afghan military collapsed sometimes without trying to fight. i inherited a deal that president trump negotiated with the taliban. reporter: sullivan insisting biden isn t trying to pass the buck. as he said, the buck stops with him. that doesn t change the fact that there are other parties here responsible as well who have taken actions and decisions that helped lead us to where we are. reporter: and at this hour, president biden remains at camp david where officials insist he is following the situation in afghanistan by the hour. but one thing that president biden is not doing is speaking with any foreign leaders. since the fall of kabul he has not spoken with any foreign
Leaders. those conversations have been happening at sullivan s level as well as the level of the secretary of state. that s different from what s happening with his foreign counterparts in germany, france and england. all of those heads in states have been in touch with each other. very unusual. jeremy diamond, thanks so much. cnn s nick paton walsh joins us now live on the phone from afghanistan s capital, kabul. the biden administration says that their priority is making sure that the kabul airport is safe and secure in order to get people out to evacuate. what s the reality on the ground at the airport? reporter: yeah. i ve got into the airport from this afternoon, and it s exceptionally difficult task even for clearly foreign western reports like myself caught in the crowd up against a gate crushed, frankly. we were trying to see if we could speak to the u.s. marines to let me and the people with me in, and one of them to me very clearly i can t let you over simply because i th