The Biden administration scrambled to put a botched evacuation of Afghanistan back on track on Tuesday as it admitted its original plans needed to be changed following a day of chaos and violence at Kabul’s international airport.
In an attempt to reassert control over events on the ground after the Taliban swiftly took control of the country in the face of a crumbling Afghan military, US officials said they had re-established security at the airport and would speed up the pace of evacuations in the days ahead.
Ned Price, the State department spokesperson, said the US had finally completed its evacuation of US diplomats and only a “core diplomatic presence” remained in Kabul.