U.S. forces have expanded their perimeter around Kabul airport as part of their efforts to accelerate evacuations of American citizens, vulnerable Afghans and citizens of U.S. allies, President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
Biden told reporters at the White House the Taliban had been cooperative in those efforts, but the situation remained dangerous.
He said the United States remained vigilant about possible attacks by ISIS-K or other militant groups, but saw no reason that the accelerated tempo of evacuations could not continue.
The president said that while evacuation efforts are continuing to ferry people out of Afghanistan, including about 11,000 in the past 30 hours alone, the US is mindful of civilian crowding outside the airport, which may be a target for terrorist groups.
"We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation," he said in remarks televised from the White House. "Our first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the country as quickly and as safely as possible."
Biden said his administration is "executing a plan" to evacuate groups of Americans whom the State Department has identified "to safety, and to safely and effectively move them to the airport compound."
The president declined to elaborate on what those plans entail, but reports have indicated that the Pentagon has carried out at least one helicopter rescue mission into Kabul to retrieve stranded Americans.
