Biden says evacuations from Afghanistan "hard and painful" as he considers extending August 31 withdrawal deadline

Washington — President Biden warned Sunday his administration's efforts to evacuate thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul following the Taliban's rapid takeover of the country was going to be "hard and painful" regardless of when the mission began, as work getting people out of Afghanistan ramps up.

"Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul is going to be hard and painful, no matter when it started, when we began, would have been true if we had started a month ago, or a month from now," Mr. Biden said in remarks about the ongoing chaos in Afghanistan. "There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain." The president continued to stress his administration's "first priority" in Kabul is evacuating U.S. citizens "as quickly and as safely as possible," and said discussions are taking place about keeping American forces in Afghanistan after August 31, his deadline for completing the U.S. withdrawal.