President Biden declared the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a success in a defiant speech on Tuesday, even as hundreds of Americans were left behind in the country after the last U.S. troops flew out of the Kabul airport.
“The bottom line: 90 percent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave,” Biden said. “For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.”
Biden said that over 5,500 Americans who wanted to leave were evacuated from Afghanistan, along with thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the two-decade war.
The withdrawal was marred by chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport, where Afghans attempted to ride the wheels of planes taking off from the runway, and ISIS-K killed 13 American troops and almost 200 Afghans in a suicide bombing on Thursday.
“We were ready when the Afghan security forces…didn’t hold on as long as expected,” Biden insisted. However, “the bottom line is there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the complexities and challenges we faced. None.”
Source: National Review
