Despite President Biden previously saying that evacuation efforts would be concluded by his Aug 31st deadline, the Pentagon says that is not the case. Thursday morning shortly before two explosions rocked the Kabul airport, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted that evacuations would not be ending in 36 hours.
Evacuation operations in Kabul will not be wrapping up in 36 hours. We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission. #HKIA
— Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021
The Daily Wire reports:
President Joe Biden previously set a deadline of August 31 to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, appearing to do so after the Taliban threatened consequences and said the deadline was a “red line.”
“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Biden said during an address at the White House on Tuesday. “Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that [Islamic State-affiliate] ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport, attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians.”
“Thus far, the Taliban have been taking steps to work with us so we can get our people out,” he said. “But it’s a tenuous situation. We’ve already had some gun fighting break out. We run a serious risk of it breaking down, as time goes on.”
As The Daily Wire reported: on Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans “to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time.”
The warning came before two explosions on Thursday. So far it’s unclear exactly how many were killed in the attacks.
Keep reading for more information on the Kabul attacks.
[KEEP READING: Report: Major Attack at Kabul Airport]
