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Biden tells Americans in Afghanistan: "We will get you home"

20 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

President Biden on Friday said his administration was considering "every opportunity and every means" to get Americans and Afghan allies through Taliban airports and into the Kabul airport.

State of play: Biden said Taliban militants are allowing those with American passports to pass through their checkpoints, but added that the United States is now figuring out how to handle the "mad rush" of non-Americans who are attempting to cross.

  • He also added that U.S. forces went outside of the gate to the airport and brought 169 Americans over the wall.
  • Biden added that American citizens, permanent residents and at-risk Afghans, including women in government and journalists, are among those being evacuated.
  • The Biden administration worked with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post to "successfully" evacuate 204 of their employees in the country.

By the numbers: Biden said that 18,000 people have been evacuated since July, 13,000 since the military lift began on Aug. 14 and "thousands more" in charter flights.

What he's saying: "This is one of the largest, most difficult air lifts in history, and the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America," Biden said.

  • "But let me be clear: any American who wants to come home, we will get you home. Make no mistake, this evacuation mission is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces, and it's being conducted under difficult circumstances," he added.
  • "I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or what it will be — that it will be without risk of loss. But as commander in chief, I can assure you that I will mobilize every resource necessary."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.