President Joe Biden went on the defensive when asked about the chaos at Kabul airport amid evacuation efforts and said ‘no one’s being killed’ – although there have been 12 confirmed deaths.
In a sit-down interview with Biden aired on Thursday, ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos said noted a lot of ‘pandemonium outside the airport’ as civilians tried to get past the Taliban to escape the country.
Biden replied: ‘Oh, there is. But, look, but no one’s being killed right now. God forgive me if I’m wrong about that, but no one’s being killed right now.’
The president continued, ‘We got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out yesterday, a couple thousand today and it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out’.
There have been a dozen confirmed deaths since the Taliban took over Kabul on Sunday, after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
‘We’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You’ve seen Afghans falling,’ Stephanopoulos said in the interview recorded on Wednesday.
Biden was quick to defend himself again, saying those photos were taken ‘four days ago, five days ago’.
Of the 12 victims, the youngest was 14-year-old Marzia Rahmati, whose family released images of her body on Thursday in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of Afghans seeking to board an evacuation flight leaving Kabul, the Daily Mail reported.
Other victims were killed when they were run over by aircraft rolling down the runway at the Kabul airport. Two people were shot by US military personnel while at the airport.
In addition, two people fell to their deaths from a US Air Force plane Monday, after clinging to the side of the aircraft when it flew away from Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Stephanopoulos pressed the president further after he dismissed the number of casualties out of Kabul.
‘What did you think when you first saw those photos?’ he asked.
‘What I thought was we have to gain control of this. We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did,’ Biden said.
When asked if he had made any mistakes throughout the departure, Biden stuck to his guns.
‘No. I don’t think it could’ve been handled in a way that there… we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there’s a way to have gotten out of this without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,’ the president said.
Biden’s handling of Afghanistan’s collapse has been blasted by both Democrats and Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who issued a statement on Thursday criticizing the messy departure.
‘First you bring out all of the American citizens. Then you bring out ALL equipment. Then you bomb the bases into smithereens—AND THEN YOU BRING OUT THE MILITARY. You don’t do it in reverse order like Biden and our woke Generals did,’ Trump stated.
‘No chaos, no death—they wouldn’t even know we left!’
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