President Biden says that if needed, U.S. forces could remain in Afghanistan past his Aug. 31 deadline to get every American out of the country.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said 5,000 people have been evacuated to date and the U.S. intends to increase that flow using various U.S. military aircraft.
“If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay to get them all out,” Biden told ABC News in an interview that aired Wednesday evening. “Right now our mission is to secure that airfield and defend that airfield and evacuate all those who have been faithful to us,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley told reporters. “There will be many post-mortems on this topic, but right now is not the time to address that. Right now there are troops at-risk.”
The White House has been attempting to weather the onslaught of criticism from both sides of the unfolding foreign policy crisis. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan, saying it was doing the best it could to quickly respond to the chaotic withdrawal.
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