President Biden addressed the nation Sunday providing a sobering assessment of the evacuation operation in Afghanistan. He warned that the U.S. has a “long way to go and a lot could still go wrong” as it tries to get all Americans and Afghan allies safely out of Kabul, which is now under Taliban control.
President Biden said American troops have now evacuated 33,000 people from Kabul since July. That includes 28,000 since August 14 and 11,000 this weekend alone. Mr. Biden added that planes taking off from Kabul with evacuees are going to military bases and processing centers around the world, and not to the U.S. The Pentagon activated the rarely-used Civil Reserve Air Fleet program to use commercial airlines to help ferry the evacuees.
He reaffirmed that getting U.S. citizens out of Afghanistan was the top priority.
“Any American who wants to get home will get home.”
He also defended his decision to order the withdrawal, saying it was the logical and right decision to make.
U.S. troops are also facing challenges in getting potential evacuees safely to the Kabul airport. From CNBC:
U.S. defense officials said Sunday that the military is seeking alternative ways to get people to the airport safely amid specific threats from ISIS against the airport. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Saturday warned American citizens not to travel to the airport due to security threats outside the gates.
Biden also said the U.S. may extend the August 31st deadline for removing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. There has been speculation that a senior official would be fired for the botched withdrawal. Axios reports that is unlikely.