Afghan reporter becomes emotional at Pentagon briefing as she demands to know where her president fled to

Nazira Karimi fought back tears as she angrily questioned Biden administration

An Afghan reporter became emotional at a Pentagon briefing when she demanded to know where the country’s president had fled to.

Journalist Nazira Karimi fought back tears as she demanded answers from the Biden administration about the chaotic state of her country.

President Ashraf Ghani escaped from the country as the Taliban forces stormed their way into Kabul on Sunday to take charge, as the US continued its complete withdrawal of troops after 20 years in the country.

And Karimi, who fled the Taliban in the 1990s, grew angry that they had been allowed to reassert control in her country.

“I’m very upset today, because Afghan women didn’t expect that overnight all the Taliban came. They took off my flag,” she said, gesturing at her face mask with the country’s flag on it.

“And they put their flag. ... Afghan people, they don’t know what to do.”

And she asked Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby: “Where is my president, former President Ghani?

“People expected that he’d fight with the people, and immediately, he ran away. We don’t know where is he, and we don’t have a president.

“President Biden said that President Ghani knows, he has to fight for us people. They have to do everything, and we were able to financially help them. But we don’t have any president.

“We don’t have anything. Afghan people, they don’t know what to do. Woman had a lot of achievement in Afghanistan. I had a lot of achievement.

“I left from the Taliban like 20 years ago. Now we go back to the first step again.”

The press conference came hours after thousands of Afghans broke onto the airfield at Kabul’s airport to try and climb onboard any flights out of the country.

Mr Kirby told her that he could not speak to Mr Ghani’s whereabouts, but added that “nobody here at the Pentagon is happy about the images that we’ve seen coming out in the last few days.”

And he added: “So, a heartfelt respect to what you’re going through.

“We, too, have invested greatly in Afghanistan and in the progress that women and girls have made.”

And he insisted that the US would “honour that obligation to all those who helped make all that progress possible.”

The White House has come under intense criticism for the rapid collapse of the Kabul government and the rise of the Taliban.

US president Joe Biden admitted that the collapse had come much quicker than expected, but said that he stood by his decision to withdraw troops.

“I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces,” said Mr Biden in a speech from the White House on Monday.

“That’s why we’re still there. We were clear-eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency. But I always promised the American people I would be straight with you. The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.”