As The Taliban Made Their Way To Kabul, Biden Ordered Troops Into Afghanistan

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U.S. soldiers stand guard as Afghans wait Monday at the Kabul airport following the swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war.

Wakil Kohsar/AFP

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Wakil Kohsar/AFP

World
Chaos At The Kabul Airport Reflects The Desperation Afghans Are Feeling

He said there have been reports of some people being turned away from the Kabul airport and that the U.S. has taken that issue up in talks with the Taliban officials. He said that people have been getting through the airport gate and placed on planes but that it’s «an hour-by-hour issue.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force is looking into a situation Monday at the Kabul airport that resulted in the death of multiple Afghan civilians, according to The Associated Press. Hundreds of civilians, desperate to leave the country, surrounded a C-17 cargo plane that was taxiing after landing. It then quickly took off again. Videos on social media showed people falling off the plane as it gained altitude.

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Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul on Sunday.

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Asia
The Taliban Claim They’ll Respect Women’s Rights — With Their Reading Of Islamic Law

Sullivan acknowledged that other U.S.-supplied weaponry was also now in the Taliban’s control.

«We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, he said, adding, «We don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.

World
What Kabul Looks Like 2 Days After The Taliban Took Control

Under repeated questioning, Sullivan refused to guarantee that all Americans who wish to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so by the Aug. 31 deadline the administration set for ending the evacuation mission.

The administration is planning a «hot wash review of what happened

Sullivan said that at some point the administration will conduct a so-called hot wash review of what happened. It won’t be a «what went wrong review.

«We’ll look at everything that happened in this entire operation from start to finish, and the areas of improvement, where we could do better, he said. He pledged to make the results public, but that for now he said officials are focused on the mission at hand of «getting these people out.

Analysis
A Mission To Give Afghans Democracy Became A Bid To Repair America’s Own

Sullivan did not directly respond to a question of whether the U.S. considered the Taliban the legitimate governing power in Afghanistan.

«Right now, there is a chaotic situation in Kabul where we don’t even have the establishment of a governing authority, he said. Ultimately, Sullivan said, «it’s going to be up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are and how they intend to proceed. The track record has not been good.