- Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy call for a classified briefing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- Taliban fighters face protests in multiple cities, a day after unrest in Jalalabad turned violent.
In the days after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, some U.S. leaders are asking for answers on the safety of Americans, while the Afghan people are starting to push back against their new rulers.
A day after a protest in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, drew a violent Taliban rebuke, demonstrations grew on Thursday. Afghan people pushed their new rulers by waving the national flag and marking the nation's 102nd anniversary of independence from Britain.
In Washington, the Defense Department has said the US has brought over 7,000 people out of Kabul since Saturday.
President Joe Biden held firm on his stance on why he chose now to withdraw from the country after nearly two decades.
"There is no good time to leave Afghanistan. Fifteen years ago would have been a problem, 15 years from now. The basic choice is, am I going to send your sons and your daughters to war in Afghanistan, in perpetuity?" Biden told George Stephanopoulos in an interview broadcast Thursday morning on ABC's "Good Morning America."
In a clip released Wednesday, Biden told Stephanopoulos that U.S. troops will stay in Afghanistan beyond Aug. 31, if necessary, to ensure all Americans are evacuated.
“We’re going to stay until we get them all out,” he said.
Afghanistan updates:Biden says troops could remain in Afghanistan beyond Aug. 31 deadline
Here's the latest on the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan:
Exactly what US military equipment do Taliban now have?
On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said a "fair amount" of military equipment the U.S. provided the Afghan National Security Forces was seized by the Taliban in the militant group's quick route of Afghanistan.
Since then, officials have put more definition on that description.
Reuters reports that an official said, "the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones," citing a current intelligence assessment.
According to a 2017 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, since 2002, the Americans have given Afghan security forces 600,000 weapons, such as rifles; 76,000 vehicles, such as Humvees; 16,000 equipment items for intelligence, surveillance like drones; and 208 aircraft.
After seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban released photos of U.S. Black Hawk military helicopters at the Kandahar International Airport that the U.S. had provided the Afghan army.
More:Here's how to help people fleeing Afghanistan and the families still in the country
Pentagon: More than 7,000 evacuees airlifted from Kabul since Aug. 14
The U.S. has airlifted more than 7,000 evacuees from Kabul since operations began on Aug. 14, Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor announced Thursday. He estimated the total number of people moved out of Afghanistan since July is somewhere near 12,000. That includes American citizens, U.S. embassy personnel and individuals designated by the State Department, including special immigrant visa applicants and other Afghans who supported the U.S. war effort.
Over the past 24 hours, 13 C-17 military planes arrived with additional troops and equipment and 12 C-17 planes left Hamid Karzai International Airport carrying more than 2,000 passengers, Taylor said. More than 5,200 troops are on the ground to assist with evacuations.
The military has the capacity to evacuate as many as 9,000 people per day, Taylor said.
Taylor also announced that F-18 fighters jets are providing "overwatch" for American troops at the airport, should the need arise for close-air support.
In an operational update briefing, Pentagon officials emphasized there has been "no decision to change the deadline" of the scheduled completion of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 31.
Video:US rushing troops to Kabul for evacuations
"If and where there's a decision to change that, then obviously that would require additional conversations with the Taliban as well," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said.
Taliban militants, who overthrew the U.S.-backed government over the weekend, have seized control of Kabul outside the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport. There are reports of civilians having difficulty reaching the airport, on the north side of Kabul, to escape the country.
U.S. and Taliban commanders have reached an agreement to allow the evacuation to continue. There have been no clashes between the Taliban and U.S. forces or impeding American citizens from reaching the airport, Kirby said.
“Obviously we want to see that continue,” he said.
– Courtney Subramanian and Tom Vanden Brook
Biden: Terrorism threat not as great from Afghanistan as elsewhere in world
The threat of terrorist groups using Afghanistan as a safe haven is not reason enough to keep military forces in the country, President Joe Biden said in an ABC interview that aired Thursday.
“The threat from al-Qaida and their associate organizations is greater in other parts of the world to the United States than it is from Afghanistan,” Biden told “Good Morning America.” “We should be focusing on where the threat is the greatest.”
Biden acknowledged that al-Qaida could return to Afghanistan. But he said the U.S. still has the ability to strike from afar.
“I'm confident we're gonna have the overriding capability,” Biden said.
He also said terrorism threats from Syria and East Africa are significantly greater than from the mountains of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan targeted the al-Qaida terrorists who had planned the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
Biden wanted all troops out of Afghanistan before next month’s 20th anniversary of the attacks, setting an Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. But Biden said forces will remain longer, if necessary, to ensure all Americans are evacuated.
– Maureen Groppe
Biden denies he was told to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley was among the top generals who urged Biden to keep about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The president on Thursday denied that was the advice he'd been given.
"That wasn't true," Biden told ABC News. "No one said that to me that I can recall."
He said the reason Afghanistan had been relatively stable in recent months was the deal the Taliban made with former President Donald Trump.
"The reason why it's been stable for a year, is because the last president said, we're leaving. And here's the deal I want to make with you, Taliban. We're agreeing to leave if you agree not to attack us between now and the time we leave on May the first," Biden added.
More:Veterans wanted out of Afghanistan, but sudden collapse brings mental health to light
Biden: 'Not rational' to use military force to protect women’s rights
The United States cannot protect women around the world through military occupation, President Joe Biden said in an ABC interview about the situation in Afghanistan.
“The idea that we're able to deal with the rights of women around the world by military force is not rational,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on "Good Morning America" on Thursday.
Human rights groups, alarmed by what will happen in Afghanistan now that the fundamentalist Taliban is in charge, are particularly concerned about women and girls.
Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, women virtually had no rights. Most were forced to quit their jobs and stay at home, denied access to education and health care, enduring high rates of illiteracy and maternal mortality.
Since taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban has said it will uphold the rights of women, but within the norms of Islamic law.
Biden told ABC that Afghan women should be helped to leave if they want out.
"I told 'em, 'Get 'em on the planes. Get them out. Get them out. Get their families out if you can,'" Biden said of the women trying to leave the country.
But the United States can’t send troops to every part of the world where women are being subjugated, he added. Instead, Biden said, nations can use economic, diplomatic and international pressure to help women.
– Maureen Groppe
Related:Taliban promise to uphold rights for women and US allies, but White House is skeptical
McConnell, McCarthy push Biden for answers
Republicans are pushing the Biden administration for answers.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sent a joint letter to President Joe Biden late Wednesday, asking for a classified briefing on the situation on the ground in Kabul.
They say the Gang of Eight – leaders from both political parties in the House and Senate, plus bipartisan leaders of both chambers' intelligence committees – should receive details on the following: the number and location of Americans in Afghanistan, the status of talks with the Taliban to ensure Americans' safety, the White House's plan to evacuate remaining Americans and more.
"We all share in the desire to see Americans safely returned home, and we hope to gain clarity as to the means and methods for accomplishing that goal," the letter states.
What went wrong in Afghanistan?:Perspectives on the 'forever war' from those who saw it up close
Protesters push Taliban, who try to suppress dissent
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations that were met with renewed violence by the militants, who are facing growing challenges to their rule.
On Thursday, a procession of cars and people near Kabul's airport carried long black, red and green banners in honor of the Afghan flag — a banner that is becoming a symbol of defiance since the militants have their own flag. At another protest in Nangarhar province, video posted online showed one demonstrator with a gunshot wound bleeding, as onlookers tried to carry him away.
More:Fraud, waste and abuse in Afghanistan: Inspector general reflects on US failures
In Khost province, Taliban authorities instituted a 24-hour curfew Thursday after violently breaking up another protest, according to information obtained by journalists monitoring from abroad. The militants did not immediately acknowledge the demonstration or the curfew.
Protesters also took the streets in Kunar province, according to witnesses and social media videos that lined up with reporting by The Associated Press.
The demonstrations — which come as Afghans mark the Independence Day holiday that commemorates the 1919 treaty that ended British rule — were a remarkable show of defiance after the insurgents violently dispersed a protest Wednesday. At that rally, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, demonstrators lowered the Taliban’s flag and replace it with Afghanistan’s tricolor. At least one person was killed.
– The Associated Press
