US Maintaining Constant Vigilance to Disrupt Threats, Including ISIS, Says Joe Biden | Key Points!

WASHINGTON::US President Joe Biden in his address today, updated Americans on the development in evacuation operations in Afghanistan. About 11,000 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan over the weekend, includes citizens of NATO allies and Afghan allies, Biden noted. The address comes after a key meeting with Biden's national security team to discuss intelligence, security, and diplomatic updates after US officials expressed growing concern about the threat from the Islamic State group (ISIS) to the evacuation at Kabul airport.

Biden's address on Sunday marks one week of Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after the terror organisation seized Kabul, toppling the Ashraf Ghani-led government. Despite heavy criticism regarding the US troops withdrawal agreement, Biden, in his first interview last week, remained stern on his decision, shifting the blame on Afghan leaders for the pandemonium in the war-torn nation.

Here are the top points:

US President Joe Biden pledged that the US was ready to welcome Afghan allies escaping the Taliban regime into the States after they have been ‘screened and cleared’ at military bases and transit centers. “Once screened and cleared, we will welcome these Afghans. to their new home in the United States of America,” Biden said.

The US President noted that the US has set up processing stations in third countries and are “working with more than two dozen countries across four continents” to bring home the Afghan evacuees.
On the ISIS threat, Biden said,

 “The security environment is changing rapidly. There are civilians crowded at the (Kabul) airport although we’ve cleared thousands of them. We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops. We’re maintaining constant vigilance to monitor the situation and disrupt threats from any source including the likely source – ISIS K, the Afghan affiliate of the ISIS.”
“We have activated the first stage of what’s referred to as the civil reserve air fleet with onward movement of evacuees from these Transit centers where military aircraft will get them to these centers but through the civil reserve air fleet. It’s a program designed during the Berlin airlift after World War II to use commercial aircraft to augment airlift capacity,” says Biden.

“Our first priority is to get American citizens out as quickly and as safely as possible,” says US President Joe Biden.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday told CNN that the threat of ISIS against the large mass of Americans and Afghans at the Kabul airport trying to evacuate Afghanistan is “real…acute…persistent…it is something we’re focused on with every tool in our arsenal.” Sullivan noted that the US is placing “paramount priority” on preventing any terrorist attack, reported CNN. Seven people were killed as crowds continued to overwhelm Kabul airport.

In his previous address, Biden had stated that he will not repeat the mistakes the US has made in the past, mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of America. He also warned the Taliban of a swift and forceful response from the US if they attack American personnel or disrupt their operations in Afghanistan.