Biden speech: President defends US exit from Afghanistan, pledging ‘no deadline’ to evacuate Americans
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Your support makes all the difference.In an address to the nation, President Joe Biden recognised the end of a “forever war” in Afghanistan after the last American troops departed from Kabul on Monday night, marking the beginning of the end of the nation’s longest war.
He defended the evacuation effort, in which thousands of people were lifted out of Kabul in recent weeks, as an “extraordinary success” due to the “incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals.”
The end of the nation’s longest war – in which nearly 50,000 Afghan civilians, 2,500 US service members, and thousands of Afghan military, police and Taliban fighters were killed – included the deaths of at least 13 US service members and an estimated 170 Afghan civilians after a terror attack claimed by Isis-K.
The president said he does not believe mass evacuations from Kabul should have started sooner, arguing that any announcement prior to an approaching withdrawal date could have sparked a “rush to the airport.”
“I take responsibility for the decision,” he said.
He added: “Imagine if we began evacuations in June or July, bringing in thousands of American troops and evacuating more than 120,000 people in the middle of a civil war. There still would have been a rush to the airport, a break down in confidence and control of the government and still would have been very difficult and dangerous mission.”
“The bottom line is there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, threats we faced,” he said. “None.”
He also stressed that for Americans who remained beyond the 31 August withdrawal deadline, “there is no deadline.”
“We remain committed to get them out, if they want to come out,” he said.
At home, the president has approved federal disaster aid and dispatched emergency response in the wake of Hurricane Ida’s devastation across southeast Louisiana, where thousands of homes were damaged by the now-dissipated storm, leaving more than 1 million homes without power.
The president pledged the federal government to “stand with you and the people of the Gulf as long as it takes for you to recover,” he said on Monday.
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White House officials to provide updates on Covid-19 crisis
The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials are providing updates on the nation’s response to the crisis, including the response as strained health systems in Louisiana and Gulf Coast states overwhelmed by infections begin to recover from Hurricane Ida.
Following vaccine requirements, vaccinations ‘accelerate'
The US put 6 million shots in arms last week, the most since 5 July, according to White House Covid-19 adviser Jeff Zients.
The rates of people getting their first shots has also “accelerated,” he said. In August, more than 14 million people got their first shots – 4 million more than in July.
The spikes follow increased vaccination requirements at businesses, institutions and at the federal level or within local governments in some states.
In Washington, the vaccination rate spiked 34 per cent after requirements were put in place, according to Zients
At Tyson Foods, after vaccine requirements were put in place, 72 per cent of its workforce is now innoculated, he said.
“Bottom line, vaccination requirements work,” he said. “They drive up vaccination rates.”
He urged other businesses to “step up and do their part to help end the pandemic faster.”
Trump attacks Biden for appearing to check watch at event to meet bodies of slain servicemen
Trump called his successor a “disgrace” after right-wing media accused the president of glancing at his watch while paying respects to the 13 US service members who were killed in Afghanistan during a ceremony in Dover, Delaware, as the remains of the dead arrived back in the US.
The claim spread across right-wing media, using manipulated video and a still image from a split-second capture of the president crossing his arms after the remains left the tarmac.
Trump attacks Biden for appearing to check watch at ceremony for dead troops
President’s supporters say he wears late son Beau’s rosary just above the watch on left wrist and that may have been what he was looking at
Biden’s speech has been delayed
White House pool reporters were told the president’s speech has been delayed. They will receive another announcement to gather, according to the pool. It was scheduled for 2.45pm EST.
Biden begins remarks from the White House
Joe Biden is now speaking from the White House. After walking to a podium, he announced: “Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan.”
Biden hails mass evacuations as ‘extraordinary success’: ‘Not a mission of war, but in a mission of mercy'
Biden has called mass evacuations of Afghan and Americans an “extraordinary success” following the implosion of Afghan forces and Taliban dominance.
“The extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals,” he said.
He called it “not a mission of war, but in a mission of mercy.”
Biden slams Trump’s withdrawal plan: ‘I was not extending a forever exit’
After imposing the 31 August deadline for full US withdrawal, Biden said that “the assumption” among his administration and military officials was that thousands of Afghan security forces would provide a strong defence from the Taliban’s seizure in transition.
“That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on ... turned out not to be accurate,” he said.
He “instructed the military to prepare for every eventuality.”
“Leaving on 31 August is not an arbitrary deadline,” he said. “It was designed to save American lives.”
Biden slammed Trump’s agreement with the Taliban to withdraw by 1 May without any cooperative governance agreements along with agreements to release thousands of Taliban prisoners, which Biden suggests allowed the Taliban to be in its strongest position in more than a decade.
Biden said the administration was faced with reneging on withdrawal and committing more troops to the 20-year war, or “between leaving, and escalating.”
“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” he said.
Biden: US remains ‘committed’ to getting out remaining Americans from Afghanistan
The president said that “90 per cent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave” while adding that for those who remained beyond the 31 August withdrawal deadline, “there is no deadline.”
“We remain committed to get them out, if they want to come out,” he said.
Biden: US not taking Taliban at word alone ‘but by their actions’
The US – joined by more than 100 countries as part of a resolution ensuring people seeking to leave Kabul have a “safe passage” to do so – will ensure “the Taliban upholds those commitments,” including the delivery of humanitarian aid, Biden said.
“We don’t take them by their word alone, but by their actions. And we have leverage to make sure those commitments are met,” he said.
The effort sends a “clear message of what the international community expects the Taliban to deliver on moving forward, notably, freedom of travel, freedom to leave,” he said.
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