Remarks by President Biden on Evacuations in Afghanistan

Table Of Content

• Map Shows Where Internet Service Fees Are Due to Rise
• Columbia to hold classes virtually as Jewish leaders warn about safety amid tensions over pro-Palestinian protests
• Spain ends evacuation mission in Afghanistan, says the Spanish government
• Latest Afghanistan evacuation numbers from the White House show slowing pace

The GOP is divided over how hard -- and how quickly -- to go after President Joe Biden in the wake of Thursday's deadly attack on US troops at the Kabul airport. A huge influx of more than 10,000 evacuees are expected to arrive at the air base over the coming hours. The government of Pakistan is asking hotels across Islamabad to close reservations and place all rooms at government disposal for at least three weeks starting Friday to accommodate thousands of foreigners being urgently evacuated from Afghanistan. “Under extremely difficult and highly dangerous conditions, our colleagues in Kabul evacuated more than 5000 people in a joint effort with Bundeswehr,” the office said. The “pessimistic predictions” about the threat of attacks from ISIS were “unfortunately” realised, Peskov added. Of course, this is very sad news about the large number of casualties,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists.

Map Shows Where Internet Service Fees Are Due to Rise

That prompted a security alert and a temporary lockdown at the complex. Similar incidents have occurred at the White House in the past. In May 2016 the building was placed on lockdown after an armed man approaching a checkpoint was shot by a Secret Service agent.

Columbia to hold classes virtually as Jewish leaders warn about safety amid tensions over pro-Palestinian protests

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency, an unprecedented step that could unlock federal powers to stifle oil development. As part of that deal, however, the Saudis insist that Israel commit to a concrete plan for an eventual Palestinian state within a certain deadline, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has adamantly rejected so far.

Spain ends evacuation mission in Afghanistan, says the Spanish government

President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday about the deteriorating situation. It was the two leaders’ first interaction since before the Hamas attack on Israel. The White House addressed the contingency plans amid growing concerns that the 18-day-old Israel-Hamas war could further escalate. The U.S. has advised Israel that postponing a possible ground invasion of Gaza could be helpful as the U.S. and other partners in the region try to secure the release of more than 200 hostages who were captured in the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil. The contingency planning was first reported by The Washington Post. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stressed there are currently no “active efforts” to evacuate Americans from the region beyond charter flights the U.S government began operating earlier this month out of Israel.

Latest Afghanistan evacuation numbers from the White House show slowing pace

"As a precaution, the White House grounds were evacuated, and the DC Fire Departments Hazmat team responded," the spokesperson said. The quake was centered near Mineral, Virginia, home of Dominion Power's Lake Anna nuclear power plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the plant had both reactors shut down automatically after the quake.

Generals who carried out Biden’s Afghan exit face new GOP scrutiny - The Washington Post

Generals who carried out Biden’s Afghan exit face new GOP scrutiny.

Posted: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

3.9 million Venezuelans are currently displaced overseas, but most of them had fled because of political unrest and the resultant issues like food shortages. There is often confusion over the terms used when talking about refugees, asylum seekers and people who have a special status to live in certain countries under specific schemes, such as the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program in the US. The latest 24-hour period evacuation numbers from the White House show a slowing pace as the airlift effort enters what is expected to be its final days. Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground. "A small private plane entered restricted airspace, all indications are by mistake, and precautionary measures were taken," a White House official said at the time. The North Lawn was evacuated as a precautionary measure and a lockdown was imposed but lifted not long afterward, with no reported injuries arising from the incident.

Ryder said several new force protection measures are now underway, including the deployment of air defense systems. He said a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and additional Patriot missile battalions have begun to move to undisclosed locations in the Middle East. Biden said last week he believed that Hamas was motivated to attack Israel in part by a desire to stop that country from normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. At the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. is preparing for an increase in violence, noting that there have already been at least 13 attacks against troops and installations in Iraq and Syria.

It added that the Spanish Armed Forces has "evacuated a total of 1,900, Afghans and their families," who had worked with Spain, other countries, and international bodies. The defense ministry said German soldiers were among the 5,347 people evacuated since August 16. More than 4,000 of that figure were Afghan nationals, it tweeted. As evacuations from Afghanistan approach their final days, the White House says approximately 12,500 people were evacuated in 24 hours. If you take the number of $1 trillion, as many say, that’s still $150 million a day for two decades. And what have we lost as a consequence in terms of opportunities?

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement Sunday that protesters in and around Columbia cross the line if they say violence should befall Jewish students. The protest and encampment on campus have drawn attention to the right of free speech and the rights of students to feel safe from violence, with a campus rabbi recommending Jewish students return home for their own safety. On Friday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby discussed the challenges of evacuating the embassy, saying it’s "not as simple as jumping in a taxicab" and that all U.S. government personnel had not yet been consolidated in a single location. But while mass evacuations of private citizens may not be standard practice for the American government, they’re not unheard of.

It will include ongoing efforts in Afghanistan to reopen the airport, as well as overland routes, allowing for continued departure to those who want to leave and delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. And still, the men and women of the United States military, our diplomatic corps, and intelligence professionals did their job and did it well, risking their lives not for professional gains but to serve others; not in a mission of war but in a mission of mercy. Twenty servicemembers were wounded in the service of this mission. For weeks, they risked their lives to get American citizens, Afghans who helped us, citizens of our Allies and partners, and others onboard planes and out of the country. And they did it facing a crush of enormous crowds seeking to leave the country. And they did it knowing ISIS-K terrorists — sworn enemies of the Taliban — were lurking in the midst of those crowds.

There are an estimated 150 American citizens left in Afghanistan whom the United States need to get to the airport, according to a source familiar with the situation. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday that a credible suicide bomb threat was the instigator behind his decision to end Belgium’s Red Kite evacuation operations from Kabul Airport on Wednesday. The problem many of these people are currently facing in Afghanistan is that the Taliban are preventing them from entering the airport; Afghan citizens leaving the country is bad PR for the militant group, who are claiming to have become more moderate. The directive comes in an official document from the office of the district magistrate, which was issued right after the deadly Kabul airport attacks. The Kremlin condemned the terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and said the situation continues to be a cause of “grave concern” for Russia. And by the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.

The Department of Defense, however, has since said evacuations will continue longer, if needed. Those numbers have slowed since the last 24-hour period, when approximately 19,000 people were evacuated, 11,200 via US military flights. The record was the 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday, when approximately 21,000 were evacuated, 12,700 via US military flights. ET Thursday, 13,400 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, with approximately 5,100 via US military flights and 8,300 via coalition flights.

USC said it decided based on concerns over security and possible disruption. Columbia on Sunday responded to concerns with a plan to beef up security. It includes hiring 111 additional security personnel; improved ID checks; extra security during Passover, which begins Monday; and heightened security around the perimeter of campus, the university’s office of the chief operating officer said in a letter to the campus community. The president’s advisers are pressing for a cease-fire deal before Israel can begin its long-threatened assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, an operation with the potential for many civilian casualties that could thwart any short-term chances of peace. But administration officials have gone down this road before over the last several months, repeatedly expressing optimism only to see the chances for a deal collapse. Several factors converging at once have renewed the administration’s hopes that it can break through the stalemate in the next week or two.

I refused to continue in a war that was no longer in the service of the vital national interest of our people. I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit. The previous administration’s agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1st deadline that they had signed on to leave by, the Taliban wouldn’t attack any American forces, but if we stayed, all bets were off.

The president was told that there are no initial reports of major infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance. Mr. Obama asked for regular updates on the situation and was also provided an update on preparations for Hurricane Irene. However, Park Police spokesperson Sgt. David Schlosser told CBS News that officers gave preliminary reports of a stone falling off the exterior of the Washington Monument.

“What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran,” said Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary. A 2007 fire at the executive building damaged then Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial suite of offices and led to the evacuation of 1,000 federal workers, including a marine who suffered cuts after punching through a fifth-floor window to escape, according to a New York Times article. Access to the base is increasingly difficult, the source said. The source added that all the gates on the base were now closed, apart from the one that Afghan security forces were unofficially using to bring in their evacuees. The statement suggests the operational total of Americans needing to be evacuated is smaller than the broader totals provided by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.