Joe Biden: Taliban Going Through 'Existential Crisis,' Hasn't Changed

The president said the Islamist group will need to secure diplomatic support to survive, regardless of whether it cares about international recognition.

President Joe Biden, in his first sit-down interview since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, said he doesn’t believe the militant group has changed and isn’t expecting it to, which is why it’s important to evacuate all Americans and “as many” Afghan women as possible. “I think they’re going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I’m not sure they do,” he told George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.”  The ultraconservative Islamist group appears more committed to its beliefs than to being internationally recognized, Biden said, but he added that it must secure diplomatic support in order to survive.