WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden will return to the White House Monday to address the nation on the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, a day after the Taliban took control of the country.
The White House says Biden will travel back to Washington from the Camp David presidential retreat to speak at 3:45 p.m. ET Monday from the East Room. It will be his first public remarks on the Afghanistan situation in nearly a week. NewsNation will live stream the remarks in the player above.
Biden and other top U.S. officials have been stunned by the pace of the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan, as the planned withdrawal of American forces turned deadly at Kabul’s airport Monday as thousands tried to flee the country.
Senior U.S. military officials say the chaos at the airport left seven people dead, including some who fell from a departing American military transport jet.
TOPSHOT – Afghan people sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of the capital’s airport Monday as thousands tried to flee after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed. Some clung to the side of a U.S. military plane before takeoff, in a widely shared video that captured the sense of desperation as America’s 20-year war comes to a chaotic end.
Another video showed the Afghans falling as the plane gained altitude over Kabul.
The speed of the Afghan government’s collapse and the ensuing chaos posed the most serious test of Biden as commander in chief, and he was the subject of withering criticism from Republicans who said that he had failed. Chaotic scenes unfolded at the Kabul airport Monday as Afghans tried desperately to find space on departing military flights, with the U.S. resorting to firing warning shots and using helicopters to clear a path for transport aircraft.
Biden campaigned as a seasoned expert in international relations and has spent months downplaying the prospect of an ascendant Taliban while arguing that Americans of all political persuasions have tired of a 20-year war, a conflict that demonstrated the limits of money and military might to force a Western-style democracy on a society not ready or willing to embrace it.
US soldiers take up their positions as they secure the airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by SHAKIB RAHMANI / AFP) (Photo by SHAKIB RAHMANI/AFP via Getty Images)
US soldiers stand guard as Afghan people wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden helps first lady Jill Biden as they board Marine One to depart Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Zabi Karimi)
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, members of the 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive in Kabul as part of a 600-strong UK-force sent to assist with Operation PITTING to rescue British nationals in Afghanistan amidst the worsening security situation there. (Leading Hand Ben Shread/Ministry of Defence via AP)
The Taliban flag flies at the Ghazni provincial governor’s house, in Ghazni, southeastern, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, members of the 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive in Kabul as part of a 600-strong UK-force sent to assist with Operation PITTING to rescue British nationals in Afghanistan amidst the worsening security situation there. (Leading Hand Ben Shread/Ministry of Defence via AP)
Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT – Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT – Afghan people sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
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