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Biden faces new criticism on Afghanistan withdrawal
President Biden said earlier that he promised to stay in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, but after Monday's withdrawal, critics say he did not live up his vow.
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Monday evening that the last of the U.S. troops stationed at the Kabul airport had left, completing the military’s drawdown in the country, even though hundreds of Americans likely remain.
McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said some American citizens who wanted to leave Afghanistan remained in the country.
"We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out," he said.
President Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos during an interview on Aug. 18 that the U.S. military objective in Afghanistan was to get "everyone" out, including Americans and Afghan allies and their families.
"That's what we're doing now, that's the path we're on. And I think we'll get there," he said. "If there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay to get them all out."
A senior State Department official told Fox News on Monday that there remained a "small number" of Americans inside Afghanistan.
That official put the number of Americans at "below 250," adding that some additional Americans have departed Afghanistan in recent hours. The official added that the State Department also was committed to evacuating "those who worked with us," referring to Afghan "partners." CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.
Sen. Tom Cotton, who appeared on "The Ingraham Angle" on Monday night, said Biden kept his promise to the Taliban to be out by Aug. 31, but not to the Americans still in the country.
In other developments:
- Last US troops have departed Afghanistan
- Taliban brags: US troops left Kabul, Afghanistan 'gained full independence'
- Blinken pledges support to Americans left in Afghanistan after withdrawal: 'We will help them leave'
- Biden emphasizes 'unanimous recommendation' of military leaders to meet Aug. 31 Afghanistan exit deadline
- NBC's Richard Engel: Biden's Afghan withdrawal was 'the worst capitulation of western values in our lifetimes'
- Veterans organization works to evacuate Afghan interpreters desperate to find safety as US troops withdraw
Marine who criticized military leaders over Afghan exit said he was ordered to undergo mental health screening
A U.S. Marine officer who was relieved of his command for breaking rank and calling out the brass over the chaotic and deadly evacuation of American troops from Afghanistan in which 13 service members were killed said Monday that he was ordered to undergo a mental health screening.
Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was fired after posting a video on social media where he criticized military leaders over the botched exit. In the footage, the 17-year Marine, just three years shy of a full pension, said took leaders to task.
"I'm not saying we need to be in Afghanistan forever, but I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, ‘Hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone?'" Scheller said last Thursday. "Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say, ‘We completely messed this up?'"
In an online post on Monday, Scheller said his commanding officer ordered him to go to a hospital for the mental health screening. He said he was evaluated by mental health specialists and "then sent on my way." CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Fathers of Marines killed in Kabul blast rip Biden: 'He talked more about his son than my son'
- Wounded Marine rips Blinken, Gen. McKenzie on Taliban praise: 'How dare you do that'
- Grieving father remembers Utah Marine killed in Kabul attack: 'He had the biggest heart in the world'
- Marines post photo of dignified transfer of fallen service members killed in Kabul
Taliban take control of Kabul airport, celebrate ‘enjoyable moment of victory’
Taliban leaders took over control of the Kabul airport Tuesday and marked the departure of the last U.S. plane from the country by taking a symbolic walk across the airport's sole runway, according to a report.
"The world should have learned its lesson and this is the enjoyable moment of victory," Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said in a livestream video, according to the Associated Press. He spoke to reporters at the Hamid Karzai International Airport and said Americans "could not achieve their goal through military operations," according to Al Jazeera.
Celebratory gunfire could be heard throughout Kabul before dawn, Reuters reported. A reporter from the Los Angeles Times posted video of Taliban fighters inspecting a hanger after the U.S. departure.
The AP reported that vehicles carrying the Taliban raced back and forth along the airport’s sole runway.
Before dawn broke, heavily armed Taliban fighters walked through hangars, passing some of the seven CH-46 helicopters the State Department used in its evacuations before rendering them unflyable. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Hannity calls on Biden to resign for abandoning US citizens in Afghanistan
- Unvetted Afghan refugees allowed to leave Wisconsin military base unsupervised: Rep. Tiffany
- 'Don't trust the Taliban,' hundreds gather outside White House
- Taliban offered Kabul to US, but Americans said no: report
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SOME PARTING WORDS
Sean Hannity demanded President Biden resign Monday for "lying" to the American people about his pledge to stay in Afghanistan until every citizen is evacuated.
"Apparently Joe Biden was telling all of us an outright lie," Hannity told viewers of "Hannity" after the last U.S. plane departed Kabul. "This transcends politics, this is [for] a Democrat, Republican, conservative, or liberal. Everybody should see it right here."
The host referenced Biden's earlier interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, where he pledged on Aug. 18 that the U.S. military objective in Afghanistan was to get "everyone" out, including Americans and Afghan allies and their families.
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