Joe Biden says still hoping for Afghan airlift to end by Aug 31 deadline

US President Joe Biden, on Sunday, addressed the country on his administration’s evacuation efforts in Afghanistan. Biden said, “Any American who wants to get home, will get home.” He added that the authorities are hoping for evacuations to end by August 31.

Providing updates on the evacuation, Biden said that 28,000 people were taken out of Afghanistan as of Sunday morning. He added that 33,000 people have been evacuated since July. He described the operation as ‘hard and painful’. No way of doing it without the heartbreaking images – ‘it’s just a fact’.

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Speaking at the White House, Biden said 11,000 people had been airlifted from Kabul in a 36-hour period this weekend, but he did not provide details. The number appeared to include flights by charter and non-U.S. military aircraft as well as the U.S. Air Force C-17 and C-130 transport planes that have been flying daily from the capital. Tens of thousands of people remain to join the airlift, which has been slowed by security issues and U.S. bureaucracy hurdles.

Biden added Sunday that his first priority is getting American citizens out of Afghanistan “as quickly and safely as possible.”

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In the president’s words: “We’re working hard and as fast as we can to get people out. That’s our mission. That’s our goal.”

Biden also said he is also activating the civilian reserve air fleet provided by commercial airlines to help move evacuees from third country waystations onto the United States.

His statements come as the US military is considering “creative ways” to get Americans and others into the Kabul airport for evacuation from Afghanistan amid “acute” security threats, Biden administration officials said, and the Pentagon on Sunday ordered six U.S. commercial airlines to help move evacuees from temporary sites outside of Afghanistan.

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At the one-week mark since the Taliban completed its takeover of the country, the U.S.-directed airlift from Kabul continued Sunday even as U.S. officials expressed growing concern about the threat from the Islamic State group. That worry comes on top of obstacles to that mission from the Taliban, as well as U.S. government bureaucratic problems.

“The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and something we’re focused with every tool in our arsenal,” Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan had said.