Biden speech: Pentagon contradicts president and reveals Taliban beating Americans en route to airport

After being beaten by Taliban guards while trying to get to the British evacuation centre, man in hiding tells Holly Bancroft he is now pleading for help from Foreign Office

A man suspected of threatening to detonate explosives in the nation’s capital on 19 August before an hours-long standoff with US Capitol Police has been charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, which could carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

Floyd Ray Roseberry, 51, was also charged with the use or attempted use of an explosive device.

Alex Woodward reports for The Independent.

President Joe Biden said he has seen no questioning of the United States’ credibility amid the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan despite numerous elected officials throughout Europe voicing objections.

“I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world,” Mr Biden said in a news conference on Friday. “Matter of fact, the exact opposite I’ve gotten.”

But despite Mr Biden’s words, plenty of European politicians have objected.

Eric Garcia reports from Washington, DC.

CNN’s Clarissa Ward tweets: “The fourth bird we were supposed to get on just got pulled. Going to be a long night here, especially for those we are talking to who have been here since yesterday evening. A woman just asked me for a blanket so I gave her my scarf.”

President Joe Biden will nominate former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as ambassador to Japan, and R Nicholas Burns to serve as ambassador to China, the White House announced on Friday.

Mr Emanuel was previously White House chief of staff in the Obama administration and served in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009.

The president’s choice of Mr Emanuel for one of the top diplomatic posts is despite strong reservations from liberal Democrats who criticised his time as Chicago mayor. Specifically, how he handled the death of Laquan McDonald, a Black teenager, who was shot by a White police officer

Mr Burns is a professor at Harvard University. He has previously served as ambassador to Nato and to Greece and worked at the State Department as undersecretary of state for political affairs.

The US and Germany have agreed that the US will use Ramstein Air Base in Germany as a transit hub for evacuations from Afghanistan to the US, according to the German Foreign Office.

The flights will also be used to evacuate Germans and others deemed eligible by German authorities.

Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick is facing criticism for pointing the finger at Black Americans, who he claimed were more “unvaccinated” than other populations, for a spike in Covid.

One scientist has called him a “lying racist”.

Gino Spocchia reports.

Officials tell the Associated Press that US helicopters ferried 96 Afghans for evacuation, signaling military flights occurring outside Kabul airport.

Politico reports that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to meet with outgoing secretary Chris Miller to discuss the handover.

Mr Miller texted him to congratulate him, offering to meet.

In response, Mr Austin texted Miller “thanks,” but did not follow up about arranging a meeting, Politico reports.

In contrast with Mr Austin, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken held one face-to-face meeting in which Afghanistan was touched upon, according to a person close to Mr Pompeo.

Robert O’Brien, President Trump’s last national security adviser, held more than half a dozen calls or in-person meetings with his successor, Jake Sullivan, two people familiar with the matter told Politico’s Daniel Lippman.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced: “Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan have been or will soon be transiting Americans or in some circumstances, others, through their territories to safety.”

“Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Ukraine, and Uganda have also made generous offers regarding the relocation efforts for at-risk Afghans,” he adds.