'It's a 20-year war that has not been won': Jen Psaki admits there won't be 'mission accomplished' from Biden on Afghanistan after troops snuck out of Bagram and as the Taliban surges across the country
- Biden to deliver update on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan today
- It comes as Afghan forces fight to stop Taliban taking first provincial capital
- And the head of U.K. military warned country could fall back into civil war
- Biden is under intense pressure to justify the rapid departure of troops
- Last week it emerged that U.S. personnel slipped away from Bagram air base without telling local Afghan commander
- Biden will also announce that Afghan translators will be moved to third countries as they await applications to come to U.S.
The White House on Thursday admitted there would be no moment of celebration or claim of mission accomplished as troops depart Afghanistan leaving swaths of the country to the Taliban.
'We're not going to have a mission accomplished moment in this regard,' said Jen Psaki, President Biden's press secretary.
'It's a 20-year war that has not been won militarily."
She spoke to reporters just before Biden was due to deliver an update on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, where their rapid departure has triggered dire warnings that the country could fall to the Islamist insurgents within months.
He will offer more details on plans to move Afghan translators to third countries as they await applications to travel to the U.S., according to a senior administration official.
But it comes after the head of Britain's armed forces said the country could rapidly descend into warlordism and civil war.
President Joe Biden has snapped at reporters who peppered him with questions about Taliban advances and the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. On Thursday afternoon, he is due to deliver an update on progress although officials said he was not expected to make any major policy announcements. That will follow a briefing by his national security staff
Relatives of Afghan Army soldiers, trapped by fighting in Herat province, demonstrated recently to demand that the government rescue their loved ones. Fighting is raging throughout the country after Biden announced the U.S. withdrawal
The Taliban on Wednesday launched their first assault on Qala-i-Naw, Afghanistan, since waging a major offensive against government force (pictured, smoke rising from the town on Wednesday)
Footage posted online appeared to show Taliban fighters entering the city on motorbikes, several holding guns, with residents lining the streets to welcome them
Adding to concerns is the way American troops left Bagram air base: Departing in the middle of the night without informing the Afghan commander who was due to take over the facility.
The result is that Biden is under increasing pressure to explain his rationale for departure and whether he would sent troops back if the Taliban overran Kabul.
'When we fully withdraw, the devastation and the killings and women … fleeing across the border into Pakistan, President Biden is going to own these ugly images,' Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Fox News.
Washington agreed to leave as part of a deal with the Taliban made by the Trump administration last year.
Military leaders wanted to leave a larger presence in the country but Biden announced in April that he wanted all U.S. troops out by Sept. 11.
Since then the Taliban have made significant gains. A tally maintained by the Long War Journal indicates they have seized 120 districts since May 1.
On Thursday, hours before Biden was due to speak, Afghan government forces were battling to stop the Taliban taking their first provincial capital Qala-i-Naw, in northwestern Baghdis province.
And militants have exhibited weapons captured from Afghan forces to international journalists as they try to demonstrate their growing power.
The U.K.'s Sky News were shown a haul of 900 guns, 70 sniper rifles, 30 light tactical vehicles and 20 pickup trucks at a mililtary base in Wardak province captured from Afghan forces.
Many were in crates labelled 'property of USA government' and were supplied to Afghan government troops.
The Taliban on Wednesday launched their first assault on Qala-i-Naw, a provincial capital in Afghanistan
An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard at a checkpoint near Bagram U.S. air base, on the day the last of American troops vacated it
The last U.S. troops slipped out of Bagram air base during the night ending almost 20 years of the American war in Afghanistan. The local Afghan commander said he was not even informed of the departure
Afghan troops around the country have been filmed laying down their arms to the Taliban and reports suggest they have deserted in vast numbers, with more than 20,000 fleeing across the border into Tajikistan.
The result is a growing sense of doom among Afghans and U.S. allies.
General Sir Nick Carter, head of the U.K.'s armed forces said the situation was 'grim' with half the country's rural districts now controlled by the Taliban.
He said he did not believe the Taliban were strong enough to take complete control but acknowledged the danger of 'state collapse.'
'That's where you would see a culture of warlordism, and you might see some of the important institutions, like the security forces, fracturing along ethnic, or for that matter tribal, lines,' he said.
Carter briefed journalists after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said almost all British troops had left.
Share this article
For now, Washington plans to leave 650 troops in the country to provide security for the U.S. embassy.
Biden is not expected to make any major policy announcements in his speech on Thursday.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden would meet his national security team for an update ahead of delivering his remarks.
'The president will make comments on our continued drawdown efforts and ongoing security and humanitarian assistance to the [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] and the Afghan people,' she said.
He has been peppered with questions at recent appearances about whether his plans would change if the Taliban continued their gains.
On Friday, an appearance to talk about COVID-19 and the Fourth of July holiday ended with journalists questioning him about the future stability of the Afghan government.
'Look, we were in that war for 20 years. Twenty years,' he said, before saying that the Afghans were going to have to take care of things themselves.
He brushed off follow-up questions by saying: 'I want to talk about happy things.'
He previously justified the withdrawal by saying the country no longer represents a threat to the U.S. people.
'It is not in America’s interest for the Taliban to take over Afghanistan. If the Taliban takes over part of Afghanistan, I fear that al Qaeda and ISIS will reemerge, and we will be paving a way for another 9/11,' said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on Tuesday.
