U.S. President briefed the press from the East Room of the White House on the Afghanistan crisis and American efforts to evacuate its troops, officials, aides, and citizens. The President said that there are 6,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, with the 82^nd Airborne Division handling runway security, the Army 10^th Mountain Division guarding the airport, and the 24^th Marine Expeditionary Unit “assisting civilian departure”.

Biden called it “the largest, most difficult airlift in history” and seemed to credit the United States of America as “the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision”. The statement was seen to be an effort by the Bien administration to assure American nationals and qualifying asylum seekers that the United States was able and committed to assist in their repatriation.

Countering this claim, the Taliban leadership has blamed the United States-led Western forces or the chaos and violence during evacuations. They have stated that this situation is despite the superior military, economic, and managerial powers of the Western countries. The Taliban claims that the rest of Afghanistan is “peaceful” except for panic in Kabul.

The President stated that 18,000 people had been evacuated since July, and “approximately 13,000 since our military lift began on August the 14^th”, that is, on the day the Taliban captured Kabul. U.S. troop deployment on ground has more than doubled since the 2,500 figure quoted from January, although the present number is still significantly lesser than the deployments in the previous years, as shown in this article.