Biden: Troops will stay in Afghanistan to evacuate Americans

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that helium is committed to keeping U.S. troops successful Afghanistan until each American is evacuated, adjacent if that means maintaining a subject beingness determination beyond his Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal.

He besides pushed backmost against disapproval that the U.S. should person done much to program for the evacuation and withdrawal, which has been marked by scenes of unit and chaos arsenic thousands attempted to fly portion the Taliban advanced.

In an interrogation with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Biden said the U.S. volition bash “everything successful our power” to evacuate Americans and U.S. allies from Afghanistan earlier the deadline.

Pressed repeatedly connected however the medication would assistance Americans near successful the federation aft Aug. 31, Biden said, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna enactment till we get them each out.”

Up to 15,000 Americans stay successful Afghanistan aft the Taliban took afloat power of the federation past weekend.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. subject does not person the forces and firepower successful Afghanistan to grow its existent ngo from securing the Kabul airdrome to collecting Americans and at-risk Afghans elsewhere successful the superior and escorting them for evacuation.

The question of whether those seeking to permission the state earlier Biden’s deadline should beryllium rescued and brought to the airdrome has arisen amid reports that Taliban checkpoints person stopped immoderate designated evacuees.

“I don’t person the capableness to spell retired and widen operations presently into Kabul,” Austin said. “And wherever bash you instrumentality that? How acold bash you widen into Kabul, and however agelong does it instrumentality to travel those forces successful to beryllium capable to bash that?”

Austin, a retired four-star Army wide who commanded forces successful Afghanistan, spoke astatine his archetypal Pentagon quality league since the Taliban swept to powerfulness successful Kabul connected Sunday.

He said the State Department was sending much consular affairs officers to velocity up the processing of evacuees.

“We’re not adjacent to wherever we privation to be” successful presumption of the gait of the airlift, Austin said.

He said helium was chiefly focused connected the airport, which faced “a fig of threats” that indispensable beryllium monitored.

“We cannot spend to either not support that airfield oregon not person an airfield that’s secure, wherever we person hundreds oregon thousands of civilians that tin entree the airfield,” helium said, adding that talks with the Taliban were continuing to guarantee harmless transition for those evacuating.

Austin said determination were astir 4,500 U.S. troops astatine the airport, maintaining information to alteration the State Department-run evacuation cognition that has been marked by degrees of chaos and confusion.

Biden, however, told ABC that determination wasn’t thing his medication could person done to debar specified chaos.

“The thought that somehow, there’s a mode to person gotten retired without chaos ensuing, I don’t cognize however that happens,” helium said.

Senior U.S. subject officers were talking to Taliban commanders successful Kabul astir checkpoints and curfews that person constricted the fig of Americans and Afghans capable to participate the airport.

John Kirby, the main Pentagon spokesman, said that implicit 24 hours astir 2,000 people, including 325 American citizens, had near aboard 18 flights by U.S. Air Force C-17 transport planes. The fig of departing Air Force flights was apt to beryllium akin successful the coming 24 hours, Kirby said, though helium said helium could not estimation however galore radical they would carry.

He said the medication was considering its options for dealing with a abstracted but related occupation — the abandonment by Afghan information forces of an array of subject equipment, weapons and craft that person fallen into the hands of the Taliban oregon different militant groups.

“We don’t, obviously, privation to spot our instrumentality successful the hands of those who would enactment against our interests oregon the interests of the Afghan radical and summation unit and insecurity wrong Afghanistan,” Kirby said. “There are galore argumentation choices that tin beryllium made, up to and including destruction.” He said those decisions had not yet been made.

Kirby said respective 100 much U.S. troops were expected to get astatine the airdrome by Thursday.

An Air Force portion arrived overnight that specializes successful rapidly mounting up and maintaining airfield operations, Kirby said. And helium said Marines trained successful evacuation enactment person continued to get and volition assistance successful getting civilians onto flights.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s nationalist information adviser. connected Tuesday acknowledged reports that immoderate civilians were encountering absorption — “being turned distant oregon pushed backmost oregon adjacent beaten” — arsenic they tried to scope the Kabul airport.

The State Department said it was sending John Bass, a erstwhile ambassador to Afghanistan, to negociate the evacuation cognition successful Kabul. Army Maj. Gen. Christopher Donohue, a peculiar operations serviceman and existent commandant of the 82nd Airborne Division, has arrived to instrumentality bid of airdrome information operations.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, caput of U.S. Central Command and wide commandant of U.S. troops successful Kabul, made an unannounced sojourn to the Afghan superior Tuesday. In a written statement, helium said helium recovered that subject aerial postulation controllers and crushed handlers were “rapidly scaling up” airlift operations.

McKenzie connected Sunday negotiated the harmless transition statement with Taliban leaders successful talks held successful Doha, Qatar.

On Monday the airlift was temporarily suspended erstwhile Afghans hopeless to flight the state breeched information and rushed onto the tarmac. Seven radical died successful respective incidents. The Air Force said Tuesday that its Office of Special Investigations was investigating an incidental Monday successful which a C-17 transport level taking disconnected was swarmed by hopeless Afghan civilians, immoderate of whom died. The Air Force said quality remains were recovered successful the plane’s instrumentality good erstwhile it landed successful Qatar.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Darlene Superville, Matthew Lee, Eric Tucker, Alexandra Jaffe and Mary Clare Jalonick successful Washington and Kirsten Grieshaber successful Berlin contributed to this report.