WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says forces are on track to leave Afghanistan by his self-imposed August 31 deadline but it will depend on Taliban cooperation.
In an address to the nation Tuesday, the president said he is pushing U.S. forces to leave “the sooner the better” due to increasing threats from ISIS-K and other terror groups in Kabul. Biden says the threats are “real and significant challenges that we also have to take into consideration.”
Biden says more than 70,000 people have been evacuated since August 14. But there is tumult and violence outside Kabul’s airport making it difficult for Americans and their Afghan allies to reach safety.
The president says that in a virtual Group of 7 meeting with world leaders, the nations were resolved to stand “shoulder to shoulder” to get people out of Afghanistan. But Biden’s decision to pull out forces by the deadline has received sharp criticism from at home and abroad.
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