Biden news: President’s popularity drops on Afghanistan with Trump’s loud statements, ‘The generals are awake’

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Biden says troops will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes all American civilians to be evacuated

Joe Biden has said that US forces will remain in Afghanistan until all remaining US citizens – and citizens of American allies – are evacuated from the country after receiving criticism for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces.

In a defensive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, Biden said there was no way to avoid “chaos” by leaving Afghanistan, and that he was committed to evacuating Americans and US allies before the August 31 deadline, but that if any American citizens were still in country, his forces will “remain until we get them all out.”

In a Pentagon briefing Thursday, it was revealed that 2,000 more people had been evacuated in the past 24 hours, but the bottlenecks in getting people into Kabul airport, rather than flight capacity, are the real challenge.

The State Department says 6,000 people have been treated at the airport, and State Department spokesman Ned Rice says they hope to start 20 flights on the ground tonight, which could clear the majority of them.

On the domestic front, new unemployment claims have fallen to pandemic low, and the Biden administration has announced that it is canceling $5.8 billion in student debt for Americans with disabilities.

Main pointsView last update 1629366162

Hello, and welcome to The Independent’s ongoing coverage of the Biden administration and the ongoing response to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Gino Spocia August 19, 2021 10:42

1629366667 Biden says the US will “remain” until the evacuation of citizens and allies

US President Joe Biden told ABC News Wednesday night that he is committed to doing “everything we can” to get Americans and US allies in Afghanistan out before the August 31 deadline, after he was criticized for failing to predict Kabul’s fall to the Taliban over the weekend.

Asked what he would do if there were Americans left in Afghanistan after August 31, Mr. Biden emphasized that “if American citizens remain, we will stay until we get them all out.” It is believed that there are only 10,000-15,000 Americans in the country.

It follows the airlift of Americans from the rooftop of the country’s embassy in Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban advanced into the Afghan capital. Many have argued that the scenes are reminiscent of the fall of Saigon and Vietnam in 1975, when Americans were also forced to flee.

Biden said in an interview with ABC News that “chaos” is inevitable. Intelligence officials and his opponents objected to this.

Gino Spocia August 19, 2021 10:51

1629367422 The US presence in Kabul depends on the pace of evacuations

The US president, who has said he is committed to evacuating Americans and allies, said the presence of US forces in the country depends on the daily evacuation of thousands of American citizens and allies.

US officials said on Tuesday they had evacuated 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy staff, since the fall of Kabul on Sunday, which Biden described Wednesday night as “five days ago.”

This number is in addition to the group of American employees who left for work from Kabul International Airport, as well as the 6,000 American soldiers who have evacuated.

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 11:03

1629368465 Mark Milley says there is no sign that the Afghan government will fall

Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that there is no intelligence to suggest that the Afghan army will deteriorate in just 11 days, amid criticism of the United States’ failure to anticipate a chaotic withdrawal from the country.

Milley said he wanted to respond to news reports about supposed intelligence suggesting otherwise, and that he swore in testimony before Congress about “multiple scenarios” indicated by US intelligence.

That schedule ranges from weeks to years, he said. He added: “Nothing that I or anyone else saw indicates the collapse of this army and this government within 11 days.”

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 11:21

Biden has been heavily criticized for saying ‘chaos’ is inevitable

Biden was attacked Wednesday night after he said there was no way the United States could withdraw from Afghanistan “without creating chaos.”

Among the voices was Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s former US ambassador to the United Nations, who tweeted that it was “a slap in the face to the thousands of Americans still in Afghanistan”.

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 11:41

1629370505 The United States cannot expand its forces beyond Kabul, says Austin

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that the United States does not have the capacity to collect Americans and allies, as well as refugees, from outside the Kabul airport borders.

“I don’t have the ability to go out and expand operations in Kabul right now,” Austin said. “And where do you take that? How far does it extend to Kabul, and how long does it take for the influx of these forces to be able to do that?”

Austin, a retired four-star Army general who commanded forces in Afghanistan, was speaking at his first Pentagon news conference since the Taliban came to power in Kabul on Sunday.

It comes amid reports that 10,000-15,000 Americans, as well as more than 50,000 Afghans, are waiting for airlifts from the country, after the Taliban recapture Kabul with unexpected speed. According to reports on the ground, the armed group was making it difficult for individuals to reach Kabul and the airport.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 11:55

1629371105 Former CIA Officer Says ‘Probably Not’ An Intelligence Failure

Paul Pillar, a former CIA officer who teaches at Georgetown University, said in an interview that Biden recognized the dangers of withdrawing from Afghanistan, but that the US president was “serving as his own lead analyst.”

“The Taliban would have won in the end,” Pillar told the BBC on Wednesday. “But the speed or pace, or when something will happen, is basically unpredictable.”

Was this an intelligence failure? My guess is probably not.”

Gino Spocia Aug 19 2021 12:05

1629371705 Republican figures escalate attacks on Biden after the interview

Biden was accused of issuing a “bald lie” by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who was among the many voices condemning the US president for saying that “chaos” was inevitable in Afghanistan.

It comes at a time when more than 10,000 Americans and thousands of other Afghans are still in the country. They are waiting for evacuation from the Taliban, who surprised the world by retaking Kabul on Sunday within weeks of the US withdrawal from the country.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney said Biden’s comments were “really ignorant and shameful,” and Megan McCain – the daughter of late Republican Senator John McCain – said the Democrat was “like Jimmy Carter on acid,” an apparent reference to the US withdrawal from Saigon.

It posted a clip of the chaotic scene around Kabul airport, where several people were killed in recent days.

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 12:15

1629373205 Provincial governors offer to accept Afghan refugees

Eleven state governors announced plans to take in Afghan refugees after the US government said it would resettle 22,000 of those seeking asylum after fleeing Afghanistan.

The governors of 11 states — six Republicans and five Democrats — said they are ready to receive the refugees, who will be moved to temporary sites in Fort Bliss, Texas, and Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, when they arrive.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that “a lot of things would have to go 100 percent right” to evacuate all those who applied for special immigrant visas (SIVs). This includes the chaos surrounding Kabul’s international airport.

Gino Spocia August 19 2021 12:40

1629374405 What will happen to Afghan refugees arriving in the United States?

Two temporary facilities have the capacity to handle tens of thousands of new arrivals from Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, who has detailed what will happen to visa applicants arriving in the United States.

Kirby told Fox News that the two facilities – at US military sites in Texas and Wisconsin – would allow the US to screen at least 22,000 refugees who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans (SIVs).

The visa scheme provides places for Afghans who have worked with the United States in the past two decades that American forces have been stationed in the country, and covers family members. According to reports, requests from the SIV had a backlog before the unexpected fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban.

Oliver O’Connell August 19, 2021 13:00

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