US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the US has a “long way to go and a lot could still go wrong” amid the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul after the Taliban took over Afghanistan one week ago.
“The evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul is going to be hard and painful no matter when it started, when we began,” Biden was quoted by NBC News as having said during a press conference at the White House.
“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,” the President added.
Biden said that US forces continue to make progress on evacuations from Kabul. Up to 33,000 people have been evacuated since July, including 28,000 since August 14 and 11,000 over the weekend, he stated.
The President reiterated that Americans are the first priority for evacuation out of Afghanistan, vowing that “any American who wants to get home will get home.”
Biden also once again defended his decision to withdraw the US from the country, arguing that it was the “logical, rational and right decision to make.”
The President has repeatedly defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Last Monday, Biden gave a speech in which he justified the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and said he “stands squarely behind” that decision.
Two days later, in an interview with ABC, the President insisted he doesn't know how the US could have withdrawn from Afghanistan without "chaos ensuing."
US defense officials said Sunday that the military is seeking alternative ways to get people to the airport safely amid specific threats from ISIS against the airport, according to NBC News.
The Pentagon on Sunday ordered US commercial airlines to provide planes to transport people who have already flown out of the country to military bases in Europe and the Middle East.