WASHINGTON, US President Joe Biden affirmed Friday that the evacuation flights from Kabul, Afghanistan have resumed saying “we paused flights in Kabul a few hours this morning to make sure we can process the arriving evacuees at the transit points.” “Our commander in Kabul has already given the order for outbound flights to resume,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “Even with the pause, we’ve moved out 5,700 evacuees yesterday.” He stressed “this is one of the largest, most difficult air lifts in history and the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America.” He indicated that over 18,000 people have been evacuated since July and about 13,000 on US military aircraft since August 14, saying “we’re going to do everything, everything that we can to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies, partners, and Afghans who might be targeted because of their association of the United States.” “Let me be clear, any American who wants to come home, we will get you home,” Biden remarked.
He continued “make no mistake, this evacuation mission is dangerous and involves risks to our armed forces. And it’s being conducted under difficult circumstances. I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or that it will be without risk of loss. But as commander in chief, I can promise you I will mobilize every resource necessary.
“We are particularly focused on our engagements on making sure every American who wants to leave can get to the airport,” Biden said.
He reiterated “as we continue to work, the logistics of evacuation we’re in constant contact with the Taliban, working to ensure civilians have safe passage to the airport.” “We have made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack, on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with swift and forceful,” he stressed.
Biden noted “there will be plenty of time to criticize and second-guess when this operation is over, but now, now, I’m focused on getting this job done.” “We’ll use every resource necessary to carry out the mission at hand and bring to safety American citizens and our Afghan allies,” he added. “This is our focus now.” “Now we have a mission, a mission to complete in Afghanistan. It’s an incredibly difficult and dangerous operation for our military,” he said. “When this is finished, we will complete our military withdrawal and finally bring to an end 20 years of American military action in Afghanistan,” Biden stressed.
Meanwhile, an Administration official said on background on third-party country transit hubs that “the Biden Administration is leading an unprecedented and highly complex global effort to coordinate safe transit out of Afghanistan for thousands of US citizens, SIV applicants and their families, vulnerable Afghans, and third-country nationals.” The official added “we have already secured a number of agreements for these passengers to temporarily transit through other countries, and have been working aggressively to secure additional agreements.” “We are deeply grateful for the generosity of our international allies and partners, including those who are working shoulder-to-shoulder with us on the ground in Kabul to support what is already one of the largest airlifts in history,” the official remarked.
Source: Kuwait News Agency