President Joe Biden claimed in an interview Wednesday no one was getting killed around the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, despite reports of 12 deaths in the area.
From the transcript:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Still a lotta’ pandemonium outside the airport.
BIDEN: Oh, there is. But, look, b– but no one’s being killed right now, God forgive me if I’m wrong about that, but no one’s being killed right now. People are–we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out:
But people are being killed right now in and around the airport in Kabul.
On Thursday, NATO officials said 12 people have been killed in and around the airport in Kabul since Sunday, prompting the Taliban to urge people to leave the airport.
A Taliban fighter patrols in Wazir Akbar Khan in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
“We don’t want to hurt anyone at the airport,” said the Taliban official to Reuters.
There is also violence elsewhere in Afghanistan.
An independence rally in Asdabad was disrupted after the Taliban opened fire on protesters, according to reports on Thursday.