As chaos swirls around the Kabul airport, imperiling the military effort to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies from a country recently recaptured by the Taliban, President Joe Biden held a press conference at The White House on Friday afternoon, vowing to all U.S. citizens still in Afghanistan: “We will get you home.”
“Equally important, almost” Biden said, is providing safe passage to Afghans who assisted in the U.S. war effort.
The president asserted that 13,000 people have been evacuated from the country since August 14th, including 5,700 yesterday. Biden acknowledged that the evacuation effort was paused earlier today as officials tried to manage a bottleneck at an air base in Qatar where evacuees are being processed. Flights have since resumed.
“This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history. And the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America,” Biden said.
“I cannot promise what the final outcome will be … or that it will be without risk of loss,” Biden added. “But as commander in chief, I can promise you I will mobilize every resource necessary, and as an American, I offer my gratitude to the brave men and women of the US armed forces who are carrying out this mission. They’re incredible.”
Biden indicated that the U.S. can complete its evacuations by the August 31st deadline previously established. “I think we can get it done by then, but we’re going to make that judgement as we go,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
The president said his administration is in constant contact with the Taliban and has worked with the militant group to resolve issues on the ground. Biden said he’s “made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack, on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with swift and forceful.”
But a report by The United Nations asserts that Taliban “militants are going house to house, setting up checkpoints and threatening to arrest or kill relatives of [U.S. & NATO] “collaborators” in major cities,” according to The Washington Post.
“At particular risk are people who were in central positions in military, police and investigative units, according to the analysis, despite a Taliban pledge this week to grant amnesty,” adds The Post. A “worst case” scenario warned of a shutdown of major cities so the Taliban could conduct raids and mass executions.
At The White House press conference, reporters pressed Biden on why America’s exit from Afghanistan has been so fraught. Biden reiterated a defense he’s relied on again and again this week: the intelligence community thought the Afghan government would hold off the Taliban through the end of the year and a messy exit from America’s longest war was inevitable.
“The past week has been heartbreaking. I don’t think anyone could see these pictures and not feel that pain on a human level,” acknowledged the president.
“Let’s put this thing in perspective here,” he added. “What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone? We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as getting Osama bin Laden, and we did.”
“You’ve known my position for a long, long time. It’s time to end this war,” he added.
