Joe Biden Expected To Decide On Afghan Evacuation Deadline In 24 Hours

US troops might stay beyond an August 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation, Joe Biden said.

With thousands of desperate Afghans and foreigners massed at Kabul's airport in the hope of fleeing Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers, US President Joe Biden is expected to decide as soon as Tuesday on whether to extend an August 31 deadline to airlift Americans and their allies to safety. Biden warned on Sunday that the evacuation was going to be "hard and painful" and much could still go wrong. US troops might stay beyond an August 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation, he said. On Monday, an administration official told Reuters that Biden would decide within 24 hours whether to extend the timeline to give the Pentagon time to prepare. Beyond the need to remove thousands of Americans, citizens of allied countries and Afghans who worked with U.S. forces, Department of Defense officials said it would still take days to fly out the 6,000 troops deployed to secure and run the airlift.