President Biden said in an interview Wednesday that US troops will stay in Afghanistan until every American in the country who wants to leave has been evacuated even if the mission extends past August 31st, the date he set as a withdrawal deadline.
“Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before August 31st,” Biden said in an interview with ABC News. When asked if troops will stay beyond the deadline if US citizens were still in Afghanistan, Biden said, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
There are currently 4,500 US troops at the Kabul airport, and the Pentagon has authorized for the deployment of about 6,000 in total, so more could be on the way.
It’s estimated that there are somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 Americans remaining in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has stepped up its airlifts out of Kabul and is flying an average of about 20 C-17s out per day. So far, according to military officials, about 5,000 people have been evacuated.
Biden did not appear to give similar assurances for Washington’s Afghan allies who want to flee to the country. He estimated there are between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghan allies, including family members, who are also waiting to be evacuated.
When asked if the evacuation commitment holds for the Afghans, Biden appeared to dodge the question and said, “The commitment holds to get everyone out that, in fact, we can get out and everyone who should come out,” he said.
When asked if the withdrawal could have been handled better, Biden said it couldn’t have happened without “chaos ensuing.”
“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,” he said.
Considering how quickly the Afghan government collapsed, the withdrawal was going to be a mess whenever it happened. The only thing Biden could have done to make things go somewhat smoother would have been to stick to the original May 1st withdrawal deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal.
Well, surprise, surprise, another soft deadline from Biden. That’s a little disappointing but whatever. Staying beyond August 31 is just such a bad idea.
Any American who wants to leave Afghanistan could probably do so without Kabul airport. Probably so could any Afghan, including those wanting to become migrants. Kabul airport is just a quicker and possibly surer trip. Borders with Iran and Pakistan are reportedly open for trade.
Apart from Kabul airport Afghanistan is functioning more or less normally except that the Taliban are overtly in charge instead of ruling from the shadows.
Did anyone really believe that the USA was just going to concede defeat to the Taliban and leave on August 31st? The neo-liberal “Blue Fascists” (who are worse than the neo-con “Red Fascists” they replaced) are determined to destabilize the Taliban. Apparently they plan to accomplish that by extending the American presence at the airport and its environs indefinitely. Don’t be surprised if the US forces leave the airport on “humanitarian rescue missions” to extract US nationals and Afghan refugees from remote areas of the country. This is all about destabilizing the Taliban by maintaining a permanent US “evacuation” effort.
Afghanistan is a country where most people are living on less than two dollars a day.USA per capita GDP is $65,000. Just how long do you think it will take for the US to evacuate all the Afghans who want to repatriate here? Biden and his bosses are planning to maintain a permanent beach head at the airport. They won’t renew the Obama surge. But they won’t leave either. The real goal of the US “evacuation”mission is to destabilize and disrupt the Taliban and prevent them from leading a stable government.
I think the widow closed on any attempt to do anything else but leave. Trying to maintain anything permanent at the airport would be setting themselves up for some very easy attacks. I’m more worried about a false flag attack on the US “corridor” to that airport that results in an American death.
I hope I am wrong. But Biden and the Blue Fascists have too much at stake to admit abject defeat and retire gently into the night. The phony puppet government is kaput. But the Blue Fascist project in Afghanistan would be best served by creating permanent chaos to prevent the Taliban from governing effectively. The means differ, but the neo-liberal/neo-con goal to disrupt rival regimes remains constant in Zimbabwe, Iran, Venezuela, Belarus, Ukraine, Chechnya, Hong Kong and Afghanistan.
The USA completely dominates the air space in Afghanistan. The Taliban has no air force and insignificant anti-aircraft capabilities. The USA can’t occupy the country again. But US air power could support fortification of the airport and environs. The US would continue to call on Afghans seeking a better life to come to the airport for the chance of emigrating to the US or Europe and take out whatever assets they could carry. The revised goal will be chaos, not conquest.
Almost 60 years ago Dylan sang that we can’t kill the Masters of War . We have to stand over their graves till we’re sure that they’re dead. The US has 6,000 troops at the airport with 3,500 more standing by. It’s not over till ther’re all gone.
I doubt if “staying” is possible, for an airport is a very soft target. A single guy could sneak into range with a heavy machine gun, or an anti-tank rocket. Speaking of rockets, the GRAD rockets have a range of 12-25 miles. These alone would make the airport unusable, IMO.
The Privatization of Rescue: Afghanistan Example.
Want Uncle Sam To Get You Out Of Kabul? It Will Cost You Thousands Of Dollars
What’s next? Food for starving Haitians or Africans held up until they sign a promissory note? A possible resolution for them: the debt might be ‘forgiven’ if they hand over a young daughter – or allow the collection agency to take one of their kidneys.
Great article.
Oh my god — you mean the Americans who ignored the State Department’s June warning to get the hell out of there might have to pay for their flights home after all? Why, the nerve!