US President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, August 24, 2021.
Yuri Gripas | Abaca | Bloomberg | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The White House took the unusual step of clarifying President Joe Biden’s schedule Thursday after a deadly attack near Kabul airport (Afghanistan) that killed 12 members of the US service and injured 15 more people.
The violence added new urgency to the frantic effort already underway to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals before Biden’s August 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
Biden began the day on Thursday in the same way he did for more than a week, with a national security briefing on the withdrawal effort in Afghanistan.
Among those in attendance were Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin, the chairman of the joint administration of Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and the field commanders of Afghanistan, according to White House officials.
After that, Biden was scheduled to meet with newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at 11:30 a.m. ET.
This meeting, which was to include an oval tete-a-tete office and an extended bilateral session with assistants, was delayed several hours before finally moving to Friday.
Biden also planned to hold a virtual meeting at 3pm on Thursday with governors who have volunteered to host newly arrived Afghan refugees in their states.
A White House official said the meeting had been canceled.
Biden moved into the oval office around noon after spending much of the morning in the safe underground situation room.
Vice President Kamala Harris also changed her schedule after the attack. On Thursday, Harris returned to the United States after an official trip to Vietnam and Singapore.
Harris initially planned to make a stop in California on Friday to campaign with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a withdrawal vote in September.
But the visit was canceled and a spokeswoman said Thursday that Harrs would return to Washington immediately.
The reshuffle of so many presidential events highlights the gravity of the attacks, which took place as Biden is pressured by both the political left and the right to keep troops in Afghanistan after August 31 and continue to transport Afghans. at risk of reprisals under the new Taliban. government.
The bombings are believed to have been carried out by a splinter group in the Islamic State and coincide with Biden’s warnings in recent days about the imminent danger of terrorist attacks.
The president cited this danger as a justification for not extending the deadline to 31 August.
At the Pentagon, a press conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Thursday was canceled, but the afternoon session continued at 3 p.m.
A press session at the White House with members of the president’s Covid-19 working group was canceled.
The White House daily press conference, which was initially scheduled for noon, was “delayed,” according to a White House official.
As of 2:30 p.m., no new time had been announced for the daily briefing.
UPDATES: This story is being updated with new information as it becomes available.