Today's D Brief: Evacs pick up in Kabul; Biden defends the withdrawal; Russia, North Korea posture for launch; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson
August 19, 2021 11:03 AM ET
The D Brief
The United States military may stay in Afghanistan past the 9/11 withdrawal date in order to evacuate everyone it can, President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired Wednesday evening on ABC News (full transcript here).
It’s unclear just yet how the Taliban will respond. But on Tuesday, the group’s spokesman warned against the U.S. staying past that 9/11 date. “I think they should get their troops out of Afghanistan,” Suhail Shaheen told Sky News. “[The U.S.] have already violated the time frame which was enshrined in the Doha agreement,” he said. “Then they announced that they will withdraw all their forces by September 11, so they should withdraw all their forces.”
The latest on evacuation efforts: 13 C-17s have arrived in Kabul over the past 24 hours, Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor said Thursday morning at the Pentagon. Those aircraft helped evacuate some 2,000 passengers, raising the total number so far to approximately 7,000.
For an additional perspective, see this window into life today at Hamid Karzai International Airport, via CBS News.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/the-d-brief-august-19-2021/184673/
