Biden pledges to Americans stuck in Kabul: ‘We will get you home’

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden pledged firmly on Friday to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and Afghans who aided the war effort, too — even as countless would-be evacuees struggled to get past crushing crowds, Taliban airport checkpoints and sometimes-insurmountable U.S. bureaucracy.

“We will get you home,” Biden promised Americans who were still in Afghanistan days after the Taliban retook control of Kabul, ending a two-decade war.

His comments, delivered at the White House, were intended to project purpose and stability at the conclusion of a week during which images from Afghanistan more often suggested chaos.

But his commitment to find a way out for Afghan allies vulnerable to Taliban attacks amounted to a potentially vast expansion of Washington’s promises, given the tens of thousands of Afghan translators and other helpers, and their close family members, seeking evacuation.

“We’re making the same commitment” to Afghan wartime helpers as to U.S. citizens, Biden said.

Thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw most remaining U.S. troops.