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Biden to address nation on Afghanistan after Taliban seize power

16 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

President Biden will return to the White House from Camp David and deliver an address on the crisis in Afghanistan at 3:45 p.m. ET on Monday,following the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's declaration of victory.

Why it matters: Biden has faced intense criticism for his silence as the Taliban captured Kabul and chaos erupted at the city's international airport, where the U.S. is attempting to evacuate thousands of Afghans who assisted the military during the 20-year war.

  • Top officials in the administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have appeared on television to defend the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
  • But Biden himself has been called upon to address Americans and the world on the chaos after promising a "safe and orderly" exit from the country.

Biden had previously dismissed comparisons to the withdrawal from Vietnam and disputed warnings from the U.S. intelligence community regarding the Afghan government's vulnerabilities, calling them "wrong."

  • White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that Biden did not believe it was "inevitable" that the Taliban would take control of Afghanistan.
  • Sullivan blamed the Afghan security forces who "decided not to step up and fight for their country" and said Biden stands by his decision to withdraw.

The big picture: The Taliban's seizure of Kabul forced Ashraf Ghani to flee the country and prompted the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy.

  • It also ignited chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where thousands of civilians stormed the runway on Monday in an attempt to flee Afghanistan.
  • Thousands of Afghans who aided U.S. and coalition forces have yet to be evacuated from the country, and the Biden administration is still attempting to find countries to temporarily house Afghans who risk retaliation from the Taliban if they stay in the country.

Go deeper ... Scoop: Joint Chiefs chairman moves up terrorist threat in Afghanistan

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.