President Biden delivers remarks on Afghanistan as panic grips Kabul airport
Biden warns US troops could be attacked by ISIS at Kabul airport and turns his back when asked about it: Says August 31 deadline could be extended – if Taliban allows it – and extends airport perimeter
President Biden spoke to the nation from the White House Roosevelt Room on Sunday eveningHe ignored a question from a reporter about increased dangers faced by Americans in Kabul He said discussions were under way for troops to stay past his Aug. 31 deadline to continue the evacuation Some 33,000 people had been evacuated from the country since July, he addedHis speech marked the latest White House effort to show it was in control of a chaotic operation The president described the evacuation as ‘hard and painful’ and admitted ‘a lot could still go wrong’ It followed fresh concerns about the fate of American nationals stuck in KabulHe is due to speak to G7 leaders on Tuesday to coordinate response efforts Critics have accused him of being slow to communicate with alliesAnd he faces more questions about whether he was warned of rapid collapse
President Joe Biden turned his back on a reporter who asked about the threats Americans in Afghanistan face in the wake of his chaotic withdrawal from the country.
Biden turned on his heel and ignored a reporter who shouted ‘Mr President what about ISIS and the threat Americans face now?’ at the conclusion of Sunday evening’s press conference about the crisis.
Moments before the reporter asked her question, the president said ‘Thank you,’ in an apparent signal that the press conference had ended.
But he has since taken heat from viewers and commentators who said the question was a sufficiently important one to merit an answer.
Biden’s snub came just hours after his own national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC News that there is a ‘genuine threat’ ISIS could attack the evacuation effort at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul.
Sullivan, who also raised the prospect of sending US troops back into Kabul, said: ‘I know that the scenes around the airport are heartbreaking, large crowds of people wanting to leave
‘I know that there is complexity and there is turbulence on the ground and in Kabul, and it’s very risky and dangerous because there’s a genuine threat from ISIS. That is the reality of what we are up against, and I’m not going to sugarcoat that reality.’
The gaffe came after Biden revealed U.S. forces may stay beyond his deadline of Aug. 31 during a speech on Sunday evening he tries to accelerate the operation to rescue Americans after days of chaos and crushes at Kabul airport.
He said that U.S. forces had expanded the perimeter around the airport amid fears terrorists may seek to exploit the operation by attacking Americans or Afghan civilians.
But things were moving in the right direction with some 33,000 people brought to safety, he said.
‘Let me be clear – the evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul is going to be hard and painful,’ Biden said during a speech in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
‘No matter when it started, when we began, it would have been true if we had started a month ago, or a month from now.
‘There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see on television.
‘It’s just a fact.’
His speech marked the latest attempt by the White House to seize control of a crisis that is rapidly turning into a humanitarian and political disaster.
A similar effort on Friday backfired when Biden claimed that he knew of no cases of Americans being stopped from reaching Kabul airport – only to be flatly contradicted by the Pentagon.
Things have only worsened since then, with reports that seven people died in the crush around the airport, including a two-year-old.
President Joe Biden says the United States is ‘working hard’ and as ‘fast as we can’ to get Americans and U.S. allies out of Afghanistan, noting that 33,000 people have been evacuated from the country since July
Speaking in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, he said U.S. forces had extended the perimeter around the airport to improve security
Thousands of people surrounded the Kabul airport Sunday, desperate to take the steps needed to cross the threshold to sanctuary
The crowds have made it difficult and dangerous for Americans and Afghans with the correct paperwork to reach the airport
Biden said that as many as 33,000 people had been evacuated since July, including some 11,000 during a single 36-hour period.
Defense officials ‘hope’ they will not have to extend the evacuation operation, he added, but ‘there are going to be discussions I suspect on how far along we are in the process.’
He also said troops were maintaining constant vigilance against terrorist threats, particularly from the local affiliate of ISIS, sworn enemies of the both the U.S. and the Taliban.
‘The security threat is changing rapidly,’ he said.
‘There are civilians crowded at the airport, although we have cleared thousands of them.
‘We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops .’
Every day that American troops and civilians are at the airport is another day of risk that terrorists launch an attack from distance.
But he said the Taliban had been helpful.
‘We discussed a lot with the Taliban,’ he said. ‘They’ve been cooperative in extending some of the perimeter.’
But he declined to describe further ‘technical changes’ designed to improve security.
‘So far the Taliban has not taken action against U.S. forces,’ he said, rapping his knuckles on the lectern as if knocking on wood.
‘So far they have, by and large, followed through on what they said in terms of Americans to pass through .
‘And I’m sure they don’t control all of their forces. It’s a rag tag force.
‘And so we’ll see if what they say turns out to be true.
Conditions deteriorated further at the weekend. The U.S. was forced to tell Americans not to try to brave the chaos around the airport unless they have been told to report.
And it emerged that evacuation flights were dropping flares and making steep combat landings after warnings that terrorists of the Islamic State might try to shoot down a plane.
Biden is still facing questions about why his administration did not have a better evacuation plan after being warned that the Taliban could sweep into Kabul within days.
Against that backdrop of criticism, the White House tried to show a president hard at work on a Sunday.
The Afghan interim council, formed to assist in the power transfer following President Ashraf Ghani’s escape, has met several Taliban leaders to discuss issues related to control and security during the transition process
President Biden met with his national security in the White House Situation Room on Sunday morning as they faced fresh questions about how much they knew of intelligence assessments that said the Taliban could be in Kabul within days
At least seven people have been killed at Kabul airport by stampeding crowds, as thousands of panicked Afghans try to flee the country, the British military said on Sunday
Afghans trying to flee are surrounding Kabul airport where the Taliban are using live rounds and beatings to maintain order. Americans were told not to try to reach the airport on Saturday
It sent out a situation room photograph of Biden meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other members of his national security team.
And earlier the Pentagon ordered six U.S. commercial airlines to help move evacuees from temporary sites outside of Afghanistan.
‘Our first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the situation as quickly and safely as possible,’ Biden said.
‘Any American that wants to get home will get home.’
He also said the government was ‘looking to move our Afghan allies’ out of the country as well, noting that citizens of NATO allies and Afghan allies were amongst the 11,000 individuals evacuated this past weekend.
The president stated that as evacuation efforts are underway he wanted to be clear about three things: ‘One, planes taking off from Kabul are not flying directly to the United States,’ said Biden, explaining that the planes are landing at U.S. Military bases and transit centers around the world where security screenings will take place for non-citizens.
‘Two, at these sites where they are landing we are conducting scrutiny security screening for everyone who is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
‘Anyone arriving in the United States will have undergone a background check.’
He also noted that the government will welcome these individuals into the U.S.
‘Three, once screened and cleared we will welcome these Afghans we helped us in the war effort over the last 20 years,’ said Biden.
The Biden administration has given no firm estimate of the number of Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Some have put the total between 10,000 and 15.000.
A White House official said U.S. planes flew 3900 people out of Kabul in the previous 24 hours. Coalition aircraft rescued a similar number.
It marked a busier weekend for Biden than last, when he was slammed by allies and opponents for staying at Camp David last weekend as the crisis deepened.
And even international partners such as the United Kingdom have voiced their frustration this weekend at the way Biden pushed ahead with such a rapid withdrawal.
A former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said the hasty retreat would embolden enemies, including terrorist groups.
‘It has damaged our alliances, emboldened our adversaries and increased the risk to our own security. It has also flouted 20 years of work and sacrifice,’ said Ryan Crocker in a New York Times essay.
This week Biden will join a virtual meeting of the G7 to discuss cooperation between the nations as the Taliban overruns Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in her statement on the upcoming meeting.
‘The leaders will discuss continuing our close coordination on Afghanistan policy and evacuating our citizens, the brave Afghans who stood with us over the last two decades, and other vulnerable Afghans,’ Psaki’s statement reads.
The call comes after Biden received a slew of backlash last week for not talking with any world leaders in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover. Hours after reports came out attacking him for his inaction, Biden spoke with Johnson.
The G7 intergovernmental group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
On Sunday afternoon, Biden will deliver remarks on Afghanistan – and Hurricane Henri response – at the White House.
Britain currently holds the rotating leadership of the G7 and announced earlier on Sunday that it called for the group to meet virtually this week.
The meeting comes as chaos in Afghanistan continues to unfold, and nations scramble to evacuate their citizens from Kabul.
So far, Biden has sent in 6,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to help with evacuation efforts after the Taliban was able to take over the country in just over a week. This means the U.S. has deployed more troops into Afghanistan than the number of American citizens it has extracted from the country since the Taliban swept into power on August 14.
The Pentagon said Saturday they were only able to evacuate 2,500 Americans from Kabul in the past week.
Overall, the U.S. was able to evacuate 7,000 people from the pandemonium at the Kabul airport since last weekend, including 3,800 in the last day.
Up to 15,000 Americans still need to be evacuated and the administration hopes to get out 50-60,000 more Afghan allies and their families.
President Joe Biden will participate in a virtual meeting with G7 leaders on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan
