U.S. Air Force loadmasters, and pilots, assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron load Afghans onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Force via AP
Psaki condemned Erik Prince, a defense contractor,'s plans for $6500 per seat on a flight from Kabul.
She stated, "I don’t believe any human being with a heart or soul would support efforts that profit from people's agony."
Prince, who founded Blackwater, stated that he will charge more to transport passengers to the airport.
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Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, condemned Erik Prince, a defense contractor, for proposing to charge $6500 for seats on a chartered flight from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Similar video: Many flee Afghanistan as Taliban gains control
Psaki answered a question about whether private contractors were profiting from the ongoing evacuation of Americans and Afghans. He said that the Biden administration does not approve of charging those who are evacuees.
During Wednesday's press conference, she stated that "we are evacuating people at no cost because it is the right thing to do and we certainly wouldn't support people who are desperate for a country to fall apart."
When she was specifically asked about Prince's plans for the future, she condemned it in more harsh terms.
She said, "I don’t believe any human being with a heart or soul would support efforts that profit off people’s pain and agony if they’re trying to leave a country and are fearing for their life."
Blackwater Worldwide founder and Trump ally Prince said that he will charge more to transport passengers from their Kabul homes to the airport. This was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Psaki stated Wednesday that since August 14th, when the Taliban took Kabul, US troops and allied force have evacuated over 82,000 people. This includes more than 4,000 Americans as well as their families. She said that approximately 1,500 more Americans are still in Afghanistan and the government has reached out to them "multiple times per day" through various communication channels.
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Tens of thousands of Afghans are eligible for special immigrant visas to work with the US military. However, they are still in Afghanistan. Human rights groups estimate that there are approximately 300,000 Afghans who worked with US forces in the past two decades. They are at high risk of being attacked by the Taliban if left Afghanistan.
Similar video: Afghanistan cafe provided women with a safe place to go before the Taliban
Prince's defense contracting activities have been under scrutiny for a long time. Four of Prince's Blackwater contractors were convicted in 2014 of murdering 17 unarmed civilians from Iraq, including children and women. Trump pardoned them last December. UN investigators discovered that Prince had violated the UN arms embargo against Libya. He delivered weapons and foreign personnel to a Libyan militia leader who was planning to overthrow its government in 2019.
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