President Biden this Sunday said the deployment of United States troops in Afghanistan might be extended beyond the Aug. 31 date to help in the evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies.
“There are talks happening about extending,” Biden stated during a White House media conference. “Our hope is we won’t have to extend. But there is talk goin on, I suspect, on how far we are in the process.”
President Biden maintained that he thinks that all needed evacuations could be completed by Aug. 31 and that the evacuation could be ramping up.
Twenty-three United States military flights and 35 coalition aircraft were used to evacuate around 7,800 personnel from Afghanistan from Aug. 21 to Aug. 22, according to the Biden Admin.
In total, around 30,000 personnel were evacuated since July.
Jake Sullivan, who is Biden’s National Security advisor, admitted when he was pressed on the question about how many Americans and allies are still there, Sullivan said, “we do not know exactly.”
Also this Sunday, during an interview with NBC, Sullivan stated, “we know it is roughly a few thousand. But let me say we don’t exactly know. Since when people go to Afghanistan who are Americans, we ask them to register with the embassy. Many leave and never de-register.”
“Or others never register in the first place. Of course, as Americans, that is their right. So, we have been working for the previous few days to get a precise count. We have tried to contact thousands of Americans by phone and email. And we are working to give them direction for the most safe way for them to get to the airport.”
Biden said that even when the United States made the decision to leave Afghanistan, such a disaster would have been unavoidable.
“Let me be certain,” Biden stated Sunday, “the evacuation of thousands of Americans from Kabul is going to be painful, no matter when it started. There is no way to evacuate so many people without pain and the heartbreaking images you see on TV. It is just a fact. My heart aches for these people you see.”
Author: Steven Sinclaire
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