Pelosi and House ditch town as Biden deals with Afghanistan evacuation, terror threat

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi barely addressed the crisis in Afghanistan this week as the House of Representatives met for a few days to move along some of the Democrats’ domestic legislative agenda, then closed up shop as the terror threat to U.S. evacuation efforts in Afghanistan grows.

With the Senate also out of town, President Biden is left alone at the helm of the government while alarm bells sound about a potential threat to the Kabul airport where American troops are frantically trying to evacuate citizens before Aug. 31.

“There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location,” the United Kingdom’s government told citizens there.

“Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so,” the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said to Americans.

BRITISH OFFICIAL WANRS KABUL AIRPORT MAY SEE ‘IMMINENT ATTACK,’ PERHAPS IN ‘HOURS’: LIVE UPDATES

A senior U.S. official elaborated to Fox News, saying the threat by ISIS-K or another affiliate of a vehicle bomb or suicide bomber has been measured as “more likely than unlikely” for over the last 24 hours.

But the House of Representatives in its two days in session this week took no votes on Afghanistan-related legislation. The only major votes it took were on a Democrat-backed elections bill and a procedural “rule” that advances Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending plan while scheduling a vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed Pelosi, D-Calif., over what he alleged was a lack of focus on the most important issue of the moment.

Pelosi was around the Capitol “late into the night” working on Democrats’ spending agenda, McCarthy said, but “not one moment of that time was spent on getting Americans home from Afghanistan.”

McCarthy continued: “What do you think those Americans were doing late at night, trying to find a path to get to that airport?… Not one moment was spent on – not one dollar was passed this time in Congress. Five trillion, just deemed not debated, none of that money going to help an American get back.”

REPS. MEIJER, MOULTON DEFEND TRIP TO KABUL AMID CRITICISM FROM PELOSI

“The president told us that the Taliban would let you go to the airport. The Taliban is now shutting it down. We watched that people aren’t being beaten – but that’s the report that we’re getting,” McCarthy also said, noting multiple false statements Biden’s made on the Afghanistan issues. “Why wouldn’t we spend time on that in Congress? Why are we departing now? The speaker has control over that.”

The most significant comments from Pelosi on Afghanistan came in a press conference in which she said, “Our hopes and prayers and thoughts are with the people there.” She also lauded members, Rep Jason Crow, D-Colo., in particular, for supporting a bill to help increase the government’s capability to evacuate American allies from Afghanistan. But that legislation came in July, well before the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated.

Pelosi also condemned Reps. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., for traveling to Afghanistan this week, saying they put themselves and those around them in danger by doing so. But she bristled when asked whether the fact that the congressmen believed the trip necessary amid such a dire situation indicated a potential problem in the Biden administration’s evacuation of Americans.

KAMALA HARRIS SAYS EVACUATING AMERICANS, AFGHAN ALLIES IS BIDEN ADMIN’S ‘HIGHEST PRIORITY’

“No,” Pelosi said. “I think it speaks to that they wanted to freelance on their own. I would not make anything bigger of this.”

Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking for a response to McCarthy’s criticism.

Nevertheless, members of the House and Senate continue to say that they are getting reports from constituents and other Americans in Afghanistan that they are unable to get to the Kabul airport and be evacuated. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday about 1,500 Americans are still in Afghanistan and want to leave, and that the State Department has had direct contact with 500 in the past 24 hours. Blinken said 4,500 Americans had been evacuated.

This comes as the White House said Thursday that 17 U.S. military flights between 3 a.m. Wednesday and 3 a.m. Thursday evacuated 5,100 people from Kabul. The White House did not provide numbers on how many Americans were among those evacuated in that period.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Biden Thursday is meeting with his national security team in the morning on the Afghanistan situation before meeting with new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. In the afternoon, Biden will meet virtually with governors who agreed to resettle U.S. allies from Afghanistan in their states.

That schedule could be upended, however, if a terror attack strikes the Kabul airport where the U.S. military continues evacuations.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Erin McEwan, Nick Kalman and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.