New Delhi: In the middle of the evacuation process of American nationals from Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that “US troops may stay in Afghanistan past an August 31 deadline to evacuate American citizens.” As the Taliban take over the country, the Pentagon said the US military does not currently have the ability to reach people beyond the Kabul airport.
President Biden to the media said that “If there are American citizens left, we are going to stay until we get them all out.
Biden has come under fierce criticism for his handling of the withdrawal, which in recent days has been dominated by scenes of chaos in and around the Kabul airport with people desperately trying to get out of the country.
Biden defended his decisions, saying problems were inevitable in ending the 20-year US involvement there. The Taliban is cooperating for now in helping get Americans out of the country, but we are having some more difficulty in evacuating US-aligned Afghan citizens.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said that “We are going to do everything we can to continue to try and de-conflict and create passageways for them to get to the airfield. I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris discussed ways to accelerate evacuations of Americans and refugees from Afghanistan with his national security team on Wednesday, a White House official said.
Austin said there is about 4,500 US military personnel in Kabul and there have been no hostile interactions with the Taliban, and our lines of communication with Taliban commanders remain open.”