Kabul airlift accelerating but still hampered by chaos

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden says the “hard and painful” airlift of Americans and tens of thousands of others from Afghanistan's superior is accelerating, but helium would not regularisation retired extending it beyond the Aug. 31 deadline helium acceptable earlier the Taliban's swift takeover.

In remarks astatine the White House connected Sunday, 1 week aft the Taliban completed their triumph by capturing Kabul, Biden defended his determination to extremity the warfare and insisted that getting each Americans retired of the state would person been hard successful the champion of circumstances. Critics person blasted Biden for a sedate mistake successful judgement by waiting excessively agelong to statesman organizing an evacuation, which became captive to the fearfulness and panic acceptable disconnected by the government's abrupt collapse.

“The evacuation of thousands of radical from Kabul is going to beryllium hard and painful, nary substance erstwhile it started, erstwhile we began,” Biden said. “It would person been existent if we'd started a period ago, oregon a period from now. There is nary mode to evacuate this galore radical without symptom and nonaccomplishment of heartbreaking images you spot connected television.”

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But determination were signs of progress: implicit 24 hours that ended aboriginal greeting Monday, 28 U.S. subject flights evacuated astir 10,400 radical from Kabul, according to a White House official. In addition, 61 conjugation craft evacuated astir 5,900 people.

Biden said subject discussions are underway connected perchance extending the airlift beyond his Aug. 31 deadline. “Our anticipation is we volition not person to extend, but determination are discussions,” helium said, suggesting the anticipation that the Taliban volition beryllium consulted.

Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of astir 37,000 people. Since the extremity of July, we person relocated astir 42,000 people, the White House authoritative said.

“We spot nary crushed wherefore this tempo volition not beryllium kept up,” Biden said from the White House. The U.S. subject says it has the capableness to alert 5,000 to much than 9,000 radical retired of Kabul per day.

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Biden asserted, without a afloat explanation, that U.S. forces person managed to amended entree to the airdrome for Americans and others seeking to get connected flights. He suggested that the perimeter had been extended, widening a “safe zone.”

“What I’m not going to bash is speech astir the tactical changes we’re making to marque definite we support arsenic overmuch information arsenic we can,” helium said. “We person constantly, however tin I accidental it, accrued rational entree to the airport, wherever much people tin get determination much safely. It’s inactive a unsafe cognition but I don’t privation to spell into the item of however we’re doing that.”

Later Biden added: “We’ve discussed a batch with the Taliban. They’ve been cooperative successful extending immoderate of the perimeter.”

He said groups of Americans successful Kabul are being moved much efficiently and safely to the airport, but helium did not supply details.

“Any American who wants to get home, volition get home,” helium asserted.

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Earlier Sunday, medication officials said the U.S. subject is considering “creative ways” to get Americans and others into the Kabul airdrome for evacuation, and the Pentagon connected Sunday ordered six U.S. commercialized airlines to assistance determination evacuees from impermanent sites extracurricular of Afghanistan.

Addressing a disapproval cited by galore Republicans, Biden said nary Afghan evacuees are being flown straight to the United States from Afghanistan without anterior screening. He said they are being screened successful 3rd countries.

Biden and his apical aides person repeatedly cited their interest that extremist groups successful Afghanistan volition effort to exploit the chaos astir the Kabul airport.

“The menace is real, it is acute, it is persistent and thing we’re focused with each instrumentality successful our arsenal," said Biden's nationalist information adviser, Jake Sullivan.

The Biden medication has fixed nary steadfast estimation of the fig of Americans seeking to permission Afghanistan. Some person enactment the full betwixt 10,000 and 15.000. Sullivan connected Sunday enactment it astatine “several thousand.”

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Speaking connected ABC’s “This Week,” Austin said that arsenic Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline for ending the evacuation cognition approaches, helium volition urge whether to springiness it much time.

Republicans successful Congress stepped up their disapproval of Biden's response. “If the Taliban is saying that Americans tin question safely to the airport, past determination is nary amended mode to marque definite they get safely to the airdrome than to usage our subject to escort them,” GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, an Army veteran, said connected ABC's “This Week.”

Ryan Crocker, who served arsenic U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan nether Presidents George W, Bush and Barack Obama, told CBS' “Face the Nation” that Biden’s absorption of the withdrawal was “catastrophic” and had unleashed a “global crisis.”

Vice President Kamala Harris got plentifulness of reminders of the Afghanistan concern during her sojourn to Singapore. She dismissed aggregate questions implicit what went incorrect determination during a property league successful Singapore aft her gathering with the nation’s premier minister.

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Harris said that portion determination “will beryllium and should beryllium a robust investigation of what has happened,” the existent absorption “has to beryllium connected evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with america and susceptible Afghans, including women and children.”

“We cannot beryllium successful immoderate mode distracted from what indispensable beryllium our superior ngo close now, which is evacuating radical from that portion who merit to beryllium evacuated,” she said.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered enactment for the U.S. determination to retreat from Afghanistan, saying the state understands the determination and that they were “grateful” for the U.S. efforts to combat coercion successful the region. He besides announced that Singapore would connection usage of its Air Force planes to assistance with the evacuation there.

A cardinal occupation successful the evacuation cognition is processing evacuees erstwhile they scope different countries successful the portion and successful Europe. Those impermanent waystations, including successful Qatar, Bahrain and Germany, are sometimes reaching capacity, though caller sites are being made available, including successful Spain.

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In an effort to alleviate that, and to escaped up subject craft for missions from Kabul, the Pentagon connected Sunday activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. The Defense Department said 18 craft from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, Omni Air, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines volition beryllium directed to ferry evacuees from interim waystations. The airlines volition not alert into Afghanistan. The six participating airlines person agreed to assistance for a small little than 2 weeks, which astir coincides with the presently planned duration of the airlift, which is to extremity Aug. 31.

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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Lolita C. Baldor, Ellen Knickmeyer, Hope Yen, Alexandra Jaffe, Jonathan Lemire and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

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