Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Monday evening following a meeting with officials from the intelligence community that it was “very unlikely” that the United States was going to have all Americans evacuated from Afghanistan by August 31, the deadline set by President Joe Biden.
“I think it’s very unlikely given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, the number of SIVs, the number of others who are members of the Afghan press, civil society leaders, women leaders, it’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month,” Schiff told reporters after meeting with intelligence officials. “I am encouraged to see the numbers of people evacuated, increasing readily to the point where we evacuated 11,000 people in a single day. Nonetheless, given the logistical difficulties of moving people to the airport, and the limited number of work arounds, it’s hard for me to see that being fully complete by the end of the month. And I’m certainly of the view that we maintain a military presence as long as it’s necessary to get all U.S. persons out, and to meet our moral and ethical obligation to our Afghan partners.”
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