Secretary of State Antony Blinken shocked today with comments about the Taliban.

During a press conference from the Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Blinken characterized the Taliban as a group with a “very challenging track record.” He completely downplays the fact that there are terrorists in the Taliban government.

He also says in the video below, the Taliban is not allowing the stranded flights are not being allowed to leave Afghanistan. Isn’t that called “being held hostage”?

Blinken had this to say about the Taliban holding planes in Afghanistan:

“As of now, the Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart. They claim that some of the passengers do not have the required documentation. While there are limits to what we can do without personnel on the ground without an airport with normal security procedures in place. We are working to do everything in our power to support those flights and to get them off the ground.”

Much of what Blinken said was immediately discounted as a lie on Fox News. Is it the State Department that is holding the planes hostage or the Taliban? The State Department has repeatedly misled Americans on what’s really going on in Afghanistan with the Taliban and efforts to get Americans out of the terrorist country.