PRESIDENTT Biden is set to address the nation about the US’ efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan today, August 20, 2021. Calls have grown louder for the president to be impeached after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital Kabul. What time is President Biden speaking today about Afghanistan? President Biden is expected to address the nation’s evacuation efforts in […]
PRESIDENTT Biden is set to address the nation about the US’ efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan today, August 20, 2021.
Calls have grown louder for the president to be impeached after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital Kabul.
President Biden is expected to address the nation’s evacuation efforts in Kabul as mayhem continues to unfold over the Taliban’s takeover of the capital.
Biden is expected to speak at 1pm ET and 6pm BST in Washington.
The president has been met with heavy criticism over his pullout from the country after promising not to abandon Afghans who risked their lives by working for the US government during the war, as well as US nationals.
The president thought “we had to gain control of this” when he first saw the chaotic scenes emerging from Kabul.
He said: “We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.”
The president once again doubled down on the decision to withdraw US troops when probed on the handling of the Afghan crisis.
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Biden said: “No, I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that, we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look.
“But the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened.”
The president was slammed for his remarks during the car crash interview.
The Pentagon is aiming to evacuate up to 22,000 Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants, their families, and other at-risk people.
Some Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, have touted the idea of impeaching the president.
Trump referred to the situation as the “greatest embarrassment” in American history.
Thousands of people desperately stormed planes at the Kabul airport in a bid to flee Taliban rule.
Video footage appears to show two people “falling to their deaths” after being thrown from a C-17 aircraft that had just taken off.
Biden has sparked fury by saying “no one is being killed” in the chaos around Kabul airport – despite the deaths of Afghan stowaways and even a young girl in a horror stampede.
It comes just a day after Afghan health officials said one person was killed and six were wounded when the Taliban violently dispersed a protest as multiple others died trying to flee the country.
“No one’s being killed right now — we got 1,200 out yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out,” Biden said as he knocked on wood next to him.
Days before his interview, a 14-year-old girl was trampled to death in a stampede at Kabul airport when she tried to reach an evacuated flight, the Mail Online reported.
She is understood to be the youngest of the 12 victims who have died in and around the airport since Sunday, according to insurgent and NATO officials.
The president was interviewed by former White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos.
During the interview, Biden said that they are going to try and withdraw US citizens from Afghanistan before their pinned deadline of August 31.
“If we don’t, we’ll determine at the time who’s left and if there’s American citizens, we’re gonna stay and get them all out,” he added.
The Taliban is said to hold a war chest worth $US1.6billion (£1.2billion) to fund its fight in Afghanistan.
Money comes in from a variety of sources including drugs, real estate and donations.
Afghanistan is the world’s largest opium exporter which provides most of the Taliban’s cash.
Cesar Gudes, head of the Kabul office of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told Reuters: “The Taliban have counted on the Afghan opium trade as one of their main sources of income.
“More production brings drugs with a cheaper and more attractive price, and therefore a wider accessibility.”
