President Biden is scheduled to return to the White House from the Camp David retreat Monday afternoon to comment on the deteriorating crisis in Afghanistan.
Biden will deliver remarks at 3:45 p.m. from the East Room, he tweeted Monday.
The president released a statement Saturday reiterating his commitment to end the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan despite the Taliban’s rapid resurgence and recent military conquests.
“I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth,” he commented.
Since that press notice, the Taliban has toppled all major provincial capitals and cities in the territory. The Islamic fundamentalist organization now controls the majority of the nation.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country Sunday as the Taliban advanced into the seat of government, capturing the capital city of Kabul. Photos were captured depicting Taliban militants occupying the presidential office, symbolizing their successful usurpation of the Afghan regime.
On Monday, chaos erupted at the Kabul airport, where the U.S. embassy was relocated temporarily last week. Hundreds of Afghan citizens breached the tarmac perimeter in a desperate attempt to escape on an Air Force jet evacuating the city. At least three Afghans perished on the runway after clinging to the side of a plane that was taking off, a U.S. official reported to the Wall Street Journal.
At the airport, U.S. troops shot and killed two armed men after they approached American soldiers stationed there to assist with the evacuation of U.S. nationals, diplomats, and other personnel, the report confirmed.
Due to the mayhem, all commercial flights out of Kabul were temporarily halted Monday until the runway could be cleared of civilians. The State Department announced Monday that all embassy officials had arrived at the airport awaiting a flight out of the country.
A similar story unfolded Sunday, when thousands of Afghans swarmed the airport to try to gain passage on a departing plane. U.S. Marines reportedly fired warning shots when hundreds of people broke into the boarding zone to attempt to secure a spot on an idling C-17 transport jet, a Western military official told the Journal.
PHOTO GALLERY: The Fall of Afghanistan