President Joe Biden has told US citizens stuck in Afghanistan and allies who worked alongside American forces “we will get you home”, but admitted he cannot promise what the “final outcome” of the troop withdrawal will be.
In a news conference at the White House, he admitted images of people desperately trying to flee the Taliban at the airport in Kabul were “heart-breaking” and “gut-wrenching”, but insisted he is “focused on getting this job done”.
He said: “This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history. We’re going to do everything that we can to provide safe evacuation to our Afghan allies and partners.
“Any American that wants to come home, we will get you home.”
He added: “It’s time to end this war.”
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Airport chaos ‘is just horrendous’
Mr Biden said 13,000 people had been safely evacuated from Afghanistan since 14 August – the day before Kabul fell to the Taliban – but added the mission was “dangerous” and “every resource necessary” would be mobilised, with nearly 6,000 troops currently on the ground.
He said the US would “retain a laser focus” on its counter terrorism mission in the country to prevent it being used as a base to launch attacks, and warned the Taliban that any threat to the US forces would be met with a “swift response”.
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Mr Biden has faced a torrent of criticism for the rapid withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, with the Taliban now back in control of the country 20 years after being ousted.
He rejected the condemnation, saying the pull-out of military personnel was the “only rational thing to do” and insisted that US allies agreed with the decision.
Speaking to reporters, he said: “I’ve seen no questioning of our credibility from our allies around the world,” and he said: “I’ve not seen that, as a matter of fact the exact opposite.”
He added: “There’ll be plenty of time to criticise and second guess when this job is done.”
There is a race against time to get westerners and their Afghan allies, including translators, interpreters, and other vulnerable people, out as American soldiers, who are leading the evacuation effort, are due to leave the country by 31 August.
Tens of thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of the deadline.
Thousands are thronging the facility as they try to escape the Taliban but some face difficulties even getting to that point due to armed checkpoints by the group’s fighters.
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‘We’re not going to be here forever’
The president said he had “no indication” that US citizens were being blocked by the militants from reaching the airport.
Some US politicians are calling on the Biden administration to extend a security perimeter beyond the airport and further into Kabul so more people can make it to the airport for evacuation.
But the president rejected this suggestion, saying it could have “unintended consequences”, indicating there could be additional security threats against US troops. But he added “judgements” will be made by commanders on the ground.
Some in Congress also want Mr Biden to make clear the 31 August deadline for withdrawing US troops is not a firm one.
Matt Zeller, who served in Afghanistan and is a former combat adviser to the Afghan security forces, said he had told US officials back in February that they should start evacuating Afghans, and called the current situation a “nightmare scenario”.
He told Sky News: “Imagine if we had done this back in the winter when it wasn’t fighting season, when we still had forces in place and controlled every airfield in Afghanistan.
“Would it have been chaotic to begin moving people slowly, methodically, a couple of families at a time, when we had the personnel and equipment in place? Would that have been chaotic? Absolutely not. Could we have done it, probably quietly? You betcha.”
Mr Zeller added: “I cant think of something more horrific and a fiasco than what’s going on now.”
“We don’t have a good security perimeter. We don’t have enough runway space. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a US marine standing metres away from a Taliban thug who is beating on US citizens.”
He said he had personal accounts of American citizens standing in line waving their passports but not being able to get in.
The US government had earlier renewed its advisory to Americans and others that it could not guarantee safe passage for any of those desperately seeking seats on the planes inside.
It said: “We are processing people at multiple gates. Due to large crowds and security concerns, gates may open or close without notice. Please use your best judgement and attempt to enter the airport at any gate that is open.”
A US defence official said around 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes in the last 24 hours.
Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
Mr Gaetz, a controversial pick to be the country’s top legal official, said his selection was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition of Mr Trump’s administration into the White House.
The Florida Republican had faced significant scrutiny over a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl.
He said in a post on the X social media platform: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.
“I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
Mr Trump said in a post on his own social media site, Truth Social, that Mr Gaetz had a “wonderful future”.
“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General,” he wrote.
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“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”
Mr Gaetz previously faced a nearly three-year Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl, which ended in February 2023 without him facing any criminal charges.
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He has always denied the allegations.
He has also been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over wider allegations including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.
The inquiry was dropped on Wednesday 13 November when Mr Gaetz left Congress – the only forum where the committee has jurisdiction.
The Senate ethics committee is deadlocked on whether their report can be released.
Mr Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Mr Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that he could face resistance from members of his own party.
A 43-year-old man was shot dead by police after calling 911 to report intruders had entered his home in Las Vegas.
Brandon Durham was at home with his 15-year-old daughter when he called the emergency line to report armed intruders were trying to break into his property on 12 November.
Bodycam footage shows Mr Durham struggling with a person over a knife in the moments before he was shot and killed at the scene.
“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said on Thursday.
The force is investigating the incident.
Mr Durham called 911 to report multiple people were outside shooting at his residence in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park neighbourhood, where he had been staying with his 15-year-old daughter, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reports.
It was one of multiple emergency calls reporting a shooting in the area.
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Mr Durham then said someone had managed to get into his home through the front and back doors of the property and he was locking himself in the bathroom, according to a police statement from 14 November, two days after the incident.
Officers reported to the scene at approximately 12:40am and could hear screaming from inside the residence.
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One of the officers, Alexander Bookman, kicked open the front door and once inside, saw Mr Durham and another individual, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife in a doorway.
Mr Bookman ordered them to drop the knife and about two seconds later, the officer fired the gun and Mr Durham appeared to be struck, the bodycam footage shows.
Both Mr Durham and Mr Boudreaux fell to the ground and the officer fired another five shots. Roughly three seconds are believed to have gone by between the first and last shot, NBC reports.
Attempts were made to save the 43-year-old but he died at the scene.
Ms Boudreaux was taken into custody and is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.
A homeless man has been arrested and charged over a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.
The 30-year-old man from Florida, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, having unveiled some of his plans to undercover agents, according to the FBI.
They began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was holding “bomb-making schematics” in a storage unit.
Bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices were found, the FBI said.
It also said he told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target, and that doing so “will wake people up”.
An agent also allegedly recorded him saying: “I feel like Bin Laden.”
He described how he hoped the bomb would “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.
The documents also claim he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives.
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Yener, who had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017, was sacked from his job at a restaurant in Florida last year after his former supervisor said he threatened to “go Parkland shooter in this place”, the FBI added.
He had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.