随着阿富汗局势继续恶化，对拜登政府处理美国军队在20年战争后撤出该国的批评不断增加，乔·拜登总统一直保持低调。
在前往总统度假地戴维营之前，拜登在特拉华州威尔明顿度过了一天，他的日程上没有公共活动，因为他将继续一周的假期，周五下午，当他和第一夫人吉尔·拜登离开威尔明顿时，总统没有停下来与记者交谈。
拜登原定于周五上午10点接受总统每日简报，不过白宫没有透露拜登是在周四晚上还是周五接受了更多关于阿富汗的简报。
一名高级政府官员表示，拜登将继续参与这一问题，并就周四下午的局势与他的团队保持密切联系。
在美国周四决定向阿富汗派遣3000名士兵以协助驻喀布尔大使馆缩编的几个小时内，拜登没有就此问题公开表态。
周四，总统发表了关于降低处方药价格计划的讲话，这是他在前往特拉华州之前唯一的一次公开活动。当他离开东厅时，他无视了来自媒体的一个响亮的问题。
“阿富汗输了吗?”有人大喊大叫。
在幕后，拜登周四上午听取了国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀和国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文关于阿富汗局势恶化的简报。据一名高级政府官员称，周三晚上，拜登与校长们举行了一次会议，要求他们为下一步行动提出建议。
在他们周四上午会面审查这些建议后，拜登下令推进新计划。这位官员补充说，总统周四分别与国务卿安东尼·布林肯进行了会谈，讨论外交战略。
美国政府为其对局势的处理进行了辩护，称它对塔利班的推进速度并不感到措手不及或惊讶，认为有许多突发事件在起作用。
但据一名美国官员称，阿富汗对主要城市岌岌可危的控制在过去一天变得越来越脆弱，这是拜登决定继续削减人员和新军事任务的一个重要因素。
就在一个月前，总统还怀疑这个国家会落入塔利班的控制之下。
他在7月8日告诉记者，“塔利班控制一切并拥有整个国家的可能性极小”。
从阿富汗完全撤军的条件最初是由唐纳德·特朗普总统提出的。2020年2月，特朗普政府与塔利班达成协议，根据协议，如果塔利班满足某些要求，包括不袭击美军，美国将在5月1日前从阿富汗撤出所有军队。
今年4月，拜登宣布，他打算在911袭击20周年之前从阿富汗撤出所有军队，因为这是“结束美国最长战争的时候了。”
“我们不会仓促撤离。我们将负责任地、谨慎地、安全地做这件事，”拜登谈到该计划时说。
但在宣布这一消息后的几个月里，美国一直在努力兑现这一承诺。阿富汗军方官员说，美军在半夜离开了巴格拉姆空军基地，也就是其在阿富汗的实际总部，没有通知阿富汗指挥官。
白宫直到7月份才宣布一项撤离阿富汗翻译和承包商的计划，这些翻译和承包商曾帮助过美国军队和外交官，他们现在是塔利班工作的目标。虽然这些阿富汗人飞往美国的一些航班已经开始，但仍有数千人滞留在阿富汗。
“请向官员们转达我的话，如果他们不撤离我们将会有一场屠杀。我不知道该怎么办。我需要帮助离开这个国家，否则我会死，我需要疏散。我需要帮助!”一名阿富汗翻译在与美国广播公司新闻分享的一份说明中写道。
众议院议长南希·佩洛西要求众议院在8月23日复会时就阿富汗问题进行全面的众议院简报，国会共和党人迅速对拜登进行了指责。
“拜登总统的战略在几周内将一个不完美但稳定的局势变成了一个重大尴尬和全球紧急情况。拜登总统发现，结束战争最快的方法就是输掉战争。成本和后果将在世界各地回响，”参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔在周四晚上的一份声明中说。
“美国的敌人知道‘结束无休止的战争’这句口号实际上意味着无条件投降。这就是我们今天在阿富汗看到的情况。美国的软弱是危险的挑衅，”共和党众议员利兹·切尼在推特上说。
尽管如此，尽管本周有报道称该地区局势不断恶化，拜登仍坚持其撤军的决定。
“看，我们花费了超过1万亿美元——在20年的时间里，我们训练和装备了超过30万名阿富汗士兵。阿富汗领导人必须团结起来。我们损失了数千人——数千名美国人员伤亡。他们必须为自己而战。为他们的国家而战。”
“我们将继续履行我们的承诺。但我不后悔我的决定，”他补充道。
Biden keeps low public profile as more territory falls to Taliban in Afghanistan
As the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate and criticism mounts over the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from the country after the 20-year war, President Joe Biden has kept a low profile.
Spending the day in Wilmington, Delaware, before departing for Camp David, a presidential retreat, Biden has no public events on his schedule as he resumes what was supposed to be a week of vacation and the president did not stop to speak with reporters as he and first lady Jill Biden departed Wilmington Friday afternoon.
Biden was scheduled to receive his presidential daily briefing at 10 a.m. Friday, though the White House did not say if Biden had received additional briefings on Afghanistan Thursday evening or Friday.
A senior administration official said Biden would continue to be engaged on the issue and stay in close contact with his team about the situation Thursday afternoon.
In the hours surrounding the U.S.’s decision Thursday to send 3,000 troops into Afghanistan to assist the drawdown of the embassy in Kabul, Biden did not engage publicly on the issue.
Delivering remarks about his plan to lower prescription drug prices Thursday -- his only public event before departing for Delaware -- the president ignored a shouted question from the press as he left the East Room.
"Is Afghanistan lost?" someone had yelled.
Behind the scenes, Biden was briefed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the worsening situation in Afghanistan Thursday morning. It followed a meeting Biden held with principals Wednesday night, tasking them to come up with recommendations for next moves, according to a senior administration official.
After they met Thursday morning to review the recommendations, Biden gave the order to move forward with the new plans. The president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday to discuss a diplomatic strategy, the official added.
The administration is on defense over its handling of the situation, saying it was not caught off guard or surprised at the speed of the Taliban’s advancement, arguing that there were a number of contingencies in play.
But according to a U.S. official, the precarious Afghan control over major cities growing more tenuous over the last day was a significant factor in Biden’s decision to go forward with the reduction in staffing and the new military mission.
And just over a month ago, the president doubted the country would fall to Taliban control.
"The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," he told reporters on July 8.
The conditions for total withdrawal from Afghanistan were initially put in place by President Donald Trump. In February 2020, the Trump administration struck a deal with the Taliban under which the U.S. would pull out all of its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 if the Taliban met certain requirements, including refraining from attacks on U.S. forces.
In April, Biden announced his intention to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks because it was "time to end America’s longest war."
"We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely," Biden said of the plan.
But in the months since that announcement, the U.S. has struggled to follow through on that promise. U.S. forces departed Bagram Air Field, its de facto headquarters in Afghanistan, in the middle of the night, without notifying Afghan commanders, Afghan military officials said.
The White House did not announce a plan to evacuate Afghan interpreters and contractors who have aided U.S. forces and diplomats, and who are now targets of the Taliban for their work, until July. While some flights for these Afghans to the U.S. have begun, thousands remain stranded in Afghanistan.
"Please send my word to the officials, if they don't evacuate us there will be a slaughter. I have no idea what to do. I need help to leave this country or I will be dead, I need evacuation. I need help!" one Afghan interpreter wrote in a note shared with ABC News.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested a full House briefing on Afghanistan when the House returns to session Aug. 23, and congressional Republicans issued a swift rebuke of Biden.
"President Biden’s strategy has turned an imperfect but stable situation into a major embarrassment and a global emergency in a matter of weeks. President Biden is finding that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it. The costs and ramifications will echo across the world," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday night.
"America’s enemies know that the slogan 'ending endless war' actually means unconditional surrender. That is what we are seeing in Afghanistan today. American weakness is dangerously provocative," GOP Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted.
Still, even as reports of the deteriorating situation in the region emerged this week, Biden stood by his decision to withdraw all troops.
"Look, we spent over a trillion dollars -- over 20 years we trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands -- lost to death and injury thousands of American personnel. They've got to fight for themselves. Fight for their nation."
"[W]e are continuing to keep our commitment. But I do not regret my decision," he added.
