{"id":14799,"date":"2021-08-20T20:54:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T20:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/20\/president-biden-suggested-rescue-operations-in-kabul-what-comes-next\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:31:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:31:43","slug":"president-biden-suggested-rescue-operations-in-kabul-what-comes-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/08\/20\/president-biden-suggested-rescue-operations-in-kabul-what-comes-next\/","title":{"rendered":"President Biden suggested rescue operations in Kabul. What comes next?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Help, help… Taliban coming for me!” A young woman please for admittance to the Kabul airport amid frenzied scenes in the Afghan capital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story has been updated to clarify the circumstances of the rescue of 169 Americans on Aug. 19. Read more about the mission <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Joe Biden on Friday told reporters that the U.S. would do everything it could to safely evacuate Americans<\/a> from Kabul, in response to questions of whether troops might leave Hamid Karzai International Airport <\/a>to extract those not able to make it to the airfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commanders on the ground have not yet run that idea by the Taliban, Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of the Joint Staff for regional operations, told Military Times, with whom they\u2019ve been in constant communication attempting to assure safety for evacuees and operations at the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can report that … we have not received those,\u201d Taylor said, clarifying that planning for those sorts of rescue missions is ongoing, should they be ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other countries, including the United Kingdom and France<\/a>, have reportedly executed rescue missions inside Kabul, the U.S. has so far stuck to the airport, with assurances from that Taliban that they\u2019ll let through Americans, third-country nationals and credentialed Afghans trying to make their way out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, during his press conference, clarified that the reason for sticking to the airport has to do with keeping the security balance. The U.S. position has been to negotiate with the Taliban for safe passage for evacuees and let the masses come to the exfiltration point, rather than venturing outside the wire to collect people and risk confrontation with fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made it clear to the Taliban that these Afghans, with the proper credentials, should be allowed through the checkpoint,\u201d Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Military Times, though numerous reports on the ground reflect obstruction and assault by some Taliban fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been limited exceptions. Biden, in his address, said that 169 Americans were brought \u201cover the wall\u201d using \u201cmilitary assets\u201d at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby confirmed that the group had gathered at the Baron Hotel, roughly 300 yards from an airport gate, where three CH-47 Chinooks airlifted them to the airfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby added that a small number of Americans waiting outside the airport have been escorted through gates by U.S. troops on foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\t