Biden Digs In on Afghanistan Withdrawal to Stephanopoulos: ‘No One’s Being Killed Right Now’

President Joe Biden remained defiant on his decision to withdraw the US Military presence from Afghanistan in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday on Good Morning America.

Over the past weekend, the Taliban took control of the war-torn nation in a remarkably efficient, fast, and largely peaceful manner, though the threat of violence the Taliban have presented in the past is likely largely the reason why the Afghan army laid down their arms so quickly.

As a result of the past few days, the Biden Administration finds itself in a really bad political place — largely, it seems, from policy decisions they made themselves, such as closing Bagram Air Field, shutting the US embassy, and, basically, not leaving enough US troops in Kabul to effectively secure the exit of both US citizens and the Afghan people who assisted the US and now are in mortal danger from retribution from an unforgiving Taliban.

Various reports say that there are anywhere from 7,00o to 15,000 Americans in Kabul that need to be evacuated from Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport — the security of which, outside the airport, is being managed by the Taliban though the US military has control of the airport.

The chaos unfolding, and the challenge of extracting American citizens is a grave concern that, candidly, the result of which will have a major impact in defining the Biden presidency. If US troops can extract American citizens and dozens of thousands of Afghan allies from the war-torn nation without incident, then the White House can emerge from this less scathed than they likely fear.

An issue that was referenced obliquely in the following exchange when the commander in chief insisted to Stephanopoulos that things are peaceful, for the time being at least. That exchange via ABC News’ transcript:

Stephanapoulos: They thought the Taliban would take over, but not this quickly?

Biden: But not this quickly. Not even close. We had already issued several thousand passports to the– the SIVs, the people– the– the– the translators when I came into office before we had negotiated getting out at the end of s– August.

Secondly, we’re in a position where what we did was took precautions. That’s why I authorized that there be 6,000 American troops to flow in to accommodate this exit, number one. And number two, provided all that aircraft in the Gulf to get people out. We pre-positioned all that, anticipated that. Now, granted, it took two days to take control of the airport. We have control of the airport now.

Stephanopoulos: Still a lotta pandemonium outside the airport.

Biden: Oh, there is. But, look, b– but no one’s being killed right now, God forgive me if I’m wrong about that, but no one’s being killed right now. People are– we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out, yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out.

Stephanopoulos: But we’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You’ve seen Afghans falling–

Biden: That was four days ago, five days ago.

Stephanopoulos: What did you think when you first saw those pictures?

Biden: What I thought was we ha– we have to gain control of this. We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.

Watch the video above, via ABC News.