Biden expects the evacuation operation in Afghanistan to end by Aug.31, but has not ruled out extending it.

The United States evacuated 11,000 people this weekend from Afghanistan, which puts the total in the last week at more than 30,000, informed the President of the United States, Joe Biden at a press conference. When updating the crisis, he assured that He hopes to complete the complex evacuation operation by August 31, as planned, but revealed that he and his military advisers are discussing the possibility of extending it.

“There are discussions about the extension. Our hope is that we don’t have to, ”Biden said.

The president also stressed that US troops had “widened the perimeter” of the airport to ensure security, after scenes of desperation have been experienced in recent days with several deaths near the Kabul airport.

“There is no way to evacuate all these people without pain. A lot can go wrong,” added Biden, who also acknowledged the possibility of a terrorist attack near the airfield by the subsidiary in Afghanistan of the Islamic State (IS).

In the official update of the figures, The US president clarified how many evacuees are Americans and how many Afghans.

“We are working hard and as fast as possible to get people out. This is our mission. This is our goal, ”he said.

Administration officials said the US military was considering “creative ways” to bring Americans and others to Kabul airport for an evacuation from Afghanistan amid “acute” security threats. The president confirmed the information but did not want to go into details so as not to jeopardize the rescue operations.

For its part, thSecretary of State Antony Blinken assured that the situation around the airfield is “incredibly volatile” and admitted that the “Taliban control Kabul”, which makes exit operations difficult. “This is the reality. This is the reality we have to face.”Blinken said in a CBS television interview.

For this reason, he admitted, “a job requirement now is to be in contact with the Taliban” to ensure safe access to the airport, despite reports of blockade and harassment of Afghans. trying to access the aerodrome to embark on one of the flights, evacuation.

Thousands of people flock to the entrance to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in an attempt to board one of the planes to leave the country, amid the chaos of the capital’s takeover. Taliban a week ago.

According to White House estimates, There are still between 10,000 and 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan who need to be evacuated, in addition to the 50,000 to 65,000 Afghans and their families that the United States also wants to expel from the country.

This Sunday, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asked for help from several US airlines. in the evacuation of Afghanistan.

In a statement, the Pentagon said airlines American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Airlines, Omni Air, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines would participate with 18 planes, although it stressed that they would not fly to Kabul and would would focus on “the movement of passengers from bases to temporary safe havens and temporary transit centers”.

The United States has entered into agreements with various countries, including Germany, Qatar, Spain and Bahrain, to temporarily accommodate Americans, special visa applicants and Afghans at risk in transit to the United States.

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