President Joe Biden tacitly admitted Thursday that some Americans in Afghanistan would remain in the country even after troops were withdrawn on August 31.
“We will continue, after our troops are withdrawn, to find means by which we find any American who wishes to get out of Afghanistan,” Biden said.
The president said his military commanders told him the mission to get Americans and Afghan allies out of Afghanistan by the deadline would succeed.
But Biden defined the mission as “to get as many people out as we can within the time frame that’s allotted” — not staying until every American is evacuated.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged after Biden’s speech that some Americans might not make it out of the country by August 31.
“There are some Americans who may not have decided to leave by the 31st,” she said during a briefing with reporters. “That is possible.”
Psaki said the administration would work with the Taliban after the August 31 deadline to get any remaining Americans out of the country safely.
“We will need to continue to coordinate with the Taliban in order to get people to the airport and out of the airport,” she said.