In a TV interview, Biden assured that the US soldiers would stay at Kabul airport for the evacuations even beyond the planned departure date of August 31.
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Biden had come under massive criticism given the return of the Taliban to power. In an interview for the US television station ABC, he defended the government’s approach to troop withdrawal. “The idea that there is somehow a way to get out of it without the following chaos – I don’t know how to do that,” he said.
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There was “no consensus” within the secret services regarding the prognoses for Afghanistan. It was said that a takeover of power was more likely towards the end of the year, the US President countered media reports, according to which the government should have received internal warnings of a possibly very rapid collapse.
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Biden received support from the US military: “There was nothing that I saw or anyone else that would have indicated a collapse of this army and this government within eleven days,” said Chief of Staff Mark Milley. There were several scenarios, “but the timeframe for a rapid collapse was widely estimated to be weeks, months or even years after we left.” The Afghan security forces were superior to the Taliban in terms of troop strength, training and equipment. Ultimately, it was a question of “will and leadership”.
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There are sometimes problems with the Taliban during the evacuation. The Islamists would “cooperate” and let US citizens and embassy employees leave the country. But with former Afghan employees of the US authorities and armed forces there are “a bit more difficulties,” said Biden.
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The US also wants to bring about 50,000 to 65,000 aid workers, including their families, to safety. Biden did not decide whether the US military would be extended for this as well. “The obligation is to get out everyone we can get out and everyone who should be got out,” he said. The goal is still to complete the mission by August 31. But: “If there are still American citizens there, we’ll stay until we’ve got them all out.”
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The airport is now controlled by the US military. According to the military, the commander of the US troops there is in regular contact with the Taliban. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Pentagon that the military would “do everything in our power” to defuse the situation and ensure people could get through to the airport. He stressed, however, that it was not possible for the US military to expand its operations to Kabul.
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The Taliban have controlled Kabul and set up checkpoints in front of the airport. According to reports, many Afghans, but also some foreigners, have not been let through by them. Hundreds of people waited around the airport, eyewitnesses reported to the dpa. There were children, women and men in the streets around the airport.
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According to its own statements, the US military has evacuated a good 5,000 people so far. The German Federal Armed Forces continued their evacuation flights from Kabul to the Uzbek capital Tashkent, they had brought more than 900 people out of the country by early Thursday morning. France is also already sending evacuation flights to Kabul.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Wednesday to continue aid for Afghanistan – also pointing out that the country’s health system was battered by months of violence and inadequate means to fight the corona epidemic. Great Britain’s Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announced via Twitter that he would double the humanitarian and development aid for this year to 286 million pounds (336 million euros). Germany, Finland and Sweden do not want to provide any more development aid for the time being.
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The UN has withdrawn some of its personnel from Afghanistan. According to a spokesman, around 100 employees will be temporarily relocated to the Kazakh city of Almaty – in order to “continue to help the Afghan population with a minimum of interruptions and at the same time reduce the risk for UN personnel”. Around 300 foreign employees and more than 700 Afghans work at the headquarters of the UN Aid Mission to Afghanistan (Unama) in Kabul.
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The aid organization Doctors Without Borders announced on Wednesday that it was continuing its medical projects in five Afghan provinces. The locations include Herat, Helmand, Kandahar, Chost and Kunduz, where around 2,400 employees of the organization work. After the fighting ended, the number of patients increased significantly and many war wounded were treated.
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