Biden: Afghanistan evacuation ‘one of the most difficult air lifts in history’
President Biden has said the US has made “significant progress” with evacuation efforts in Afghanistan.
More than 18,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since July and about 13,000 since the US military lift started on August 14.
Some 5,700 evacuees left the airport yesterday, Biden told journalists on Friday.
There are presently 5,000 US troops situated at Kabul airport, with another 1,000 expected to arrive today.
Thousands of people are at the airport attempting to flee the country after the Taliban seized power.
“This is one of the largest, most difficult air lifts in history, and the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America,” Biden said.
Flights out of Kabul were paused this morning to make sure the US could “progress evacuees at their transit points” but flights have now resumed.
The US had evacuated all 204 employees of the New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, he added.
Biden said it would not be necessary for the US to send troops into central Kabul to extract Americans unable to get to the airport as “we’ve made an agreement with the Taliban”.
He added: “We’ve seen gut-wrenching images of panicked people acting out of sheer desperation. You know, it’s completely understandable. They’re frightened. They’re sad. Uncertain what happens next.”