President Joe Biden said on Friday he could not guarantee the final outcome of the emergency evacuation from Kabul’s airport, calling it one of the most “difficult” airlift operations ever.
The president said US forces have airlifted 13,000 people out of Afghanistan since August 14, and 18,000 since July, with thousands more evacuated on private charter flights “facilitated by the US government”. Evacuees include family members of US citizens, special immigration visa (SIV) applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans.
“This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House. “I cannot promise what the final outcome will be.”
Earlier on Friday, Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris met with the national security team to discuss the evolving situation in Afghanistan ahead of the remarks.
Biden’s personal approval rating dropped 7 percentage points in an Ipsos/Reuters poll announced on Monday, to 46% from 53%, the previous week. This is his lowest rating in the Ipsos/Reuters weekly poll so far, and came amidst the collapse of the Afghanistan government, return of the Taliban and the evacuation crisis that played out in full public view.
Biden has defiantly defended his pullout decision and said, attracting severe criticism, that the chaotic scenes unfolding at the Kabul airport were an inevitable outcome.
An Ipsos/Reuters poll conducted on August 16 found that 44 % adults thought the Biden administration had done a good job on Afghanistan, while 42% thought it had done a bad job. His three predecessors fared far better: George W Bush 47% good and 39% bad; Barack Obama 51% good and 38% bad; and Donald Trump 51% and 36% bad.
He has also promised to stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to get all Americans out of there, even beyond the pullout deadline of August 31.
