Edge's News: Afghanistan: Troops will stay until every American evacuated…. President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he is committed to keeping US troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his August 31 deadline for withdrawal. 

He also pushed back against criticism that the US should have done more to plan for the evacuation and withdrawal, which has been marked by scenes of violence and chaos as thousands attempted to flee while the Taliban advanced.

In an interview with ABC News, Biden said the US will do "everything in our power" to evacuate Americans and US allies from Afghanistan before the deadline". Pressed repeatedly on how the administration would help Americans left in the nation after August 31, Biden said, "If there''s American citizens left, we''re gonna stay till we get them all out".

Up to 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban took full control of the nation last weekend. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier Wednesday that the US military does not have the forces and firepower in Afghanistan to expand its current mission from securing the Kabul airport to collecting Americans and at-risk Afghans elsewhere in the capital and escorting them for evacuation. 

The question of whether those seeking to leave the country before Biden''s deadline should be rescued and brought to the airport has arisen amid reports that Taliban checkpoints have stopped some designated evacuees. "I don''t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," Austin said. "And where do you take that? How far do you extend into Kabul, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?" 

Austin, a retired four-star Army general who commanded forces in Afghanistan, spoke at his first Pentagon news conference since the Taliban swept to power in Kabul on Sunday. He said the State Department was sending more consular affairs officers to speed up the processing of evacuees.

"We''re not close to where we want to be" in terms of the pace of the airlift, Austin said. He said he was mainly focused on the airport, which faced "a number of threats" that must be monitored.

Jake Sullivan, Biden''s national security adviser. on Tuesday acknowledged reports that some civilians were encountering resistance - "being turned away or pushed back or even beaten" - as they tried to reach the Kabul airport.

The State Department said it was sending John Bass, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, to manage the evacuation operation in Kabul. Army Major General Christopher Donohue, a special operations officer and current commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, has arrived to take command of airport security operations.