Biden to Announce August Evacuation for Afghans Who Aided U.S.

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to announce that some Afghan interpreters and others who assisted U.S. forces there will be evacuated from the country beginning in August and relocated to other countries.

Biden will address his plan in a speech from the White House on Thursday afternoon, according to a senior administration official. The move comes amid the U.S. troop drawdown from Afghanistan, where the Taliban are rapidly advancing on the heels of the U.S. departure.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed at the White House on Thursday morning about the progress of the troop withdrawal, according to their daily schedules. Administration officials had previously discussed temporarily relocating about 9,000 Afghans who could be at high risk for helping U.S. forces to three Central Asian nations for processing.

The president in April pledged to withdraw U.S. combat troops entirely from the country by September, save for a contingent to protect its diplomats, a time line that the Pentagon recently said would be completed by late August. The withdrawal would symbolize the end of America’s longest war, some two decades after then-President George W. Bush sent troops to oust the Taliban government following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

But the U.S. withdrawal -- after the loss of about 2,300 Americans and nearly $1 trillion in spending -- has only underscored the continuing turmoil in a country referred to as the “graveyard of empires.” With the U.S. pullout underway, tens of thousands of Afghan families are fleeing regions in the country’s north to escape the advance of Taliban militants who are clashing with Afghan security forces.

U.S. Seeks Refuge for Afghan Staff as It Hands Over Key Base (1)

As the U.S. handed over Bagram Air Base, its biggest facility, to President Ashraf Ghani’s government last week, the Taliban managed to take over most of Kunduz province and are now pushing toward the capital, Kunduz city. The insurgent group known for its harsh treatment of women and adherence to a strict version of Islam now controls about half of Afghanistan’s 400 districts, 130 of which it’s taken since April.

The Afghanistan Ministry of Defense said this week it’s developing a plan to retake fallen regions, and Biden last week pushed back on questions about whether a Taliban takeover is inevitable, as many military and regional experts believe.

Afghans Flee as Taliban Makes Deeper Inroads Amid U.S. Exit (2)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Biden stands by his decision to leave.

“He does not feel there’s a military solution for a 20-year war,” she said. “We will continue to provide, as you said, humanitarian assistance, security assistance. We intend to continue to have a diplomatic presence on the ground in Kabul, even after we bring the servicemen and women home at the end of August.”

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