During his speech regarding the withdrawal, Biden stated that his administration intends to "transport out thousands of American citizens who've been living and working in Afghanistan." He acknowledged that these citizens are in grave danger due to the ongoing violent Taliban takeover.
But in order to safely repatriate these American citizens, Biden is deploying an additional 6,000 U.S. troops to the country.
"I was asked to authorize and I did 6,000 U.S. troops to deploy to Afghanistan for the purpose of assisting the departure of U.S. and allied civilian personnel from Afghanistan, and to evacuate our Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans to safety outside of Afghanistan, our troops are working to secure the airfield and ensure continued operation of both the civilian and military flights we’re taking over our traffic control," Biden stated during his speech. (Related: Violence continues in Afghanistan as thousands of American civilians await evacuation while Biden fiddles.)
More Americans to be deployed to Afghanistan so the rest can be evacuated
Prior to the announcement of the deployment of 6,000 additional troops, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that there were not enough troops in Afghanistan to expand its mission from securing Kabul airport to evacuating every American and at-risk Afghans elsewhere in the capital.
Now, the question of whether those seeking to leave the country before Biden's Aug. 31 deadline should be rescued and brought to the airport has come up. This is due to reports that Taliban checkpoints have stopped some designated evacuees.
"I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," said Austin, a retired four-star Army general who commanded forces in Afghanistan. “And where do you take that? How far do you extend into Kabul, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?"
Austin admitted that they were "not close to where we want to be" in regards to the pace of the airlift.
"We cannot afford to either not defend that airfield or not have an airfield that’s secure, where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the airfield,” he said, adding that they were continuing talks with the Taliban to ensure safe passage for those evacuating.
According to Austin, there were about 4,500 U.S. troops at Kabul airport, maintaining security to allow the State Department-run evacuation operation that has been marked by confusion and chaos.
Biden claims nothing could be done to avoid evacuation chaos
In the face of the chaotic evacuation that has left thousands of Americans in Afghanistan, and promises to have to deploy thousands more, President Joe Biden has stated that there was nothing his administration could have done to avoid the chaos.
"The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens," Biden said to ABC.
Despite this, the Biden administration has drawn criticism from those involved with the previous administration.
"Sending more than 5000 troops back in AFTER you withdrew a couple thousand of them is proof that you are disconnected from the reality on the ground and aren’t serious about protecting Americans," tweeted Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State under President Donald Trump.
Former President Trump himself also had a few words for Biden, noting that the issue wasn't that American forces were being withdrawn from Afghanistan, but the "grossly incompetent" manner in which the withdrawal was conducted.
"Can anyone even imagine taking out our Military before evacuating civilians and others who have been good to our Country and who should be allowed to seek refuge?" stated Trump. "In addition, these people left topflight and highly sophisticated equipment. Who can believe such incompetence? Under my Administration, all civilians and equipment would have been removed."
Follow Collapse.news for more on the fall of Afghanistan and the efforts to evacuate Americans still trapped in the country.
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