President Joe Biden is sticking with an August 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan amid accelerating evacuations of Americans and Afghan allies still in the country
Biden made the announcement in a virtual meeting with fellow G7 leaders, who tried and failed to persuade him to extend the deadline, according toEvacuations from the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul have been escalating precipitously in recent days: A White House official said Monday 21,600 people were evacuated in the last 24 hours, nearly double the 10,900 evacuated the day before.
Emerging from a briefing from top administration officials, Rep. Adam Smith , the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is confident the U.S. can “get as many as it is possible to get out” by August 31. The officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, told lawmakers they have a “contingency plan” to stay past August 31 if necessary, Smith added.
Other Democrats who were in the briefing, including Rep. Jason Crow , an Iraq veteran, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee , said they hold firm in their previously held belief that the evacuations cannot be completed in time.The U.S. has rushed to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghans applying for special immigrant visas in the last two weeks in the wake of the Taliban’s shockingly swift takeover of the country.
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