President to Address Nation on withdrawal from Afghanistan and Hurricane Henri

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US President Joe Biden will address the nation again on Sunday afternoon. He will provide an update on the withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as the response to Hurricane Henri. Biden is meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room at the White House on Sunday morning to hear intelligence, security, and diplomatic updates on the evolving situation in Kabul. The president will then speak to the American people from the Roosevelt Room about the latest on the evacuation of citizens, special immigration visa applicants, and their families, and vulnerable Afghans. It marks the third time President Biden will appear on TV concerning the chaos that started to unfold in Kabul after the Taliban retook the Afghan capital and desperate people attempted to flee via the airport.

Former President Donald Trump criticized Biden and said that Democrats “stealing” the 2020 presidential election led to the fall of Kabul. He said, “This will go down as one of the great military defeats of all time. This was not a withdrawal. It was a total surrender”. Trump also defended his peace deal with the Taliban and his negotiations with the organization’s leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Brother. Trump added, “I said Abdul, anything happens, we are going to rain terror upon you. And then we had a rigged election and a new president and the new president came into office and he dropped to his knees and he said come on in and takes everything that we have”. The Biden administration and some former Trump administration officials have blamed the former president’s negotiations with the Taliban for the complete collapse of the Afghan government.

The former president admired the Taliban while also criticizing the Biden administration for not knowing the precise number of Americans in Afghanistan. The White House released a report and said there were 23 US military flights (14 C-17s, 9 C-130s) are evacuating approximately 3,900 personnel, and 35 coalition aircraft evacuating approximately 3,900 personnel. There was approximately 25,100 personnel on both military and coalitions flights evacuated since 14^th August. At least 30,000 personnel have evacuated since the end of July. The White House also said Biden will meet virtually with G7 leaders on 24^th August. The White said, “The meeting will build on President Biden’s calls this week with G7 leaders Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy”.