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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is set to address the nation Tuesday, defending his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan — a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America’s longest war to a close — but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.

Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks in the State Dining Room of the White House at 2:45 p.m. — nearly 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country.

It was not Biden, who has long opposed the war, and who carries a card in his pocket with the number of casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq, to mark the 20-year conclusion of the war on Monday but Pentagon and State officials.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered a preview of Biden’s remarks, saying that he would express his thanks to the service members who executed the “dangerous mission” as well as the veterans and volunteers who offered support.

“He will lay out his decision to end the war in Afghanistan after 20 years, including the tough decisions he made over the last seven months since he took office to bring the war to a close,” her statement said. “He will make clear that as President, he will approach our foreign policy through the prism of what is in our national interests, including how best to continue to keep the American people safe.”

Biden did release a written statement thanking commanders and service members for completing the withdrawal on schedule “with no further loss of American lives,” praising the evacuation effort as “the largest airlift in US history,” and teasing his defense not to stay beyond Aug. 31.

“For now, I will report that it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned,” he said in the statement, although military leaders had lobbied Biden earlier this year to leave a residual U.S. force in Afghanistan to support the Afghan army and government.

With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people — Afghans “friends and allies” — were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.

Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”

His poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden’s deadline could be a grave mistake, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.

Tuesday’s speech comes amid outrage expressed by some family members of those service members killed in last week’s airport attack over his handling of the withdrawal.

Some have criticized the president following Sunday’s dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, where he met with families. White House press secretary Jen Psaki wouldn’t respond directly to criticism from one family but said that the president feels responsible for their loss at a briefing on Monday.

Republican lawmakers have also blasted Biden for his handling of the withdrawal, with Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., calling the withdrawal a “national disgrace” and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., claiming Biden has armed the Taliban by leaving behind equipment.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” defended the withdrawal and contended that only the president, as commander in chief, knows what it is to make these hard decisions.

“Those criticizing are not the ones who have to sit in the Situation Room and make the hard calls about the threats that we face and the objectives we’re trying to obtain and President Biden made that hard call and it is a call he believes will ultimately serve the interests of our people, all of our citizens and our country,” he said on Tuesday.

Perhaps foreshadowing Biden’s remarks, Sullivan also claimed the U.S. and the international community have “enormous leverage” on the Taliban to ensure those Americans and Afghans who want to get out can do so.

But the administration hasn’t provided a clear plan for those evacuations beyond saying it’s relying on a Taliban commitment to provide “safe passage.”

The 100 to 200 Americans that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said still wanted to be evacuated weren’t able to reach the airport in Kabul on Monday before the last U.S. plane left. Of the five final flights, no American civilians made it on board.

Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S., who fear reprisal from the Taliban, also did not make it out and are forced to rely on Afghanistan’s new rulers for departure — of which there is no guarantee.

It’s unclear what the evacuation picture will look like from now that the U.S. military is gone.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden addressed the nation Tuesday and continued to defend his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan — a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America’s longest war to a close — but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.

“Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history,” Biden began, going on to tout the historic evacuation numbers. “No nation, no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history. Only the United States had the capacity and will and ability to do it.”

“The real choice was between leaving or escalating,” he claimed.

The president’s prepared remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House come 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country.

“There is no deadline” for Americans who want to leave, he said, at the same time saying “90% of Americans who wanted to leave were able to leave,” adding the U.S. would continue efforts to help those who wanted to get out.

Biden said that when he made the decision in April to end the war and set the Aug. 31 deadline, “The assumption was that more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that we had trained over the past two decades and equipped would be a strong adversary in their civil wars with the Taliban.”

“That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate,” Biden said.

His speech did not focus on the operational miscues that have marred the past week in Afghanistan but instead homed in on why the U.S. entered the war 20 years and why he didn’t want to pass the war on to another president.

“I was not going to extend this Forever War,” he said.

As Americans still remain in the country, Biden repeated an administration line that “there is no deadline” on getting Americans out, but did not offer operational details for retrieving remaining Americans with the airport under Taliban control.

On Monday, it was not Biden, who has long opposed the war, who marked its conclusion after 20 years on Monday, but Pentagon and State Department officials.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered a preview of Biden’s remarks earlier, saying that he would express his thanks to the service members who executed the “dangerous mission” as well as the veterans and volunteers who offered support.

“He will lay out his decision to end the war in Afghanistan after 20 years, including the tough decisions he made over the last seven months since he took office to bring the war to a close,” her statement said. “He will make clear that as President, he will approach our foreign policy through the prism of what is in our national interests, including how best to continue to keep the American people safe.”

Biden on Monday did release a written statement thanking commanders and service members for completing the withdrawal on schedule “with no further loss of American lives,” praising the evacuation effort as “the largest airlift in US history,” and teasing his defense not to stay beyond Aug. 31.

“For now, I will report that it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned,” he said in the statement, although military leaders had lobbied Biden earlier this year to leave a residual U.S. force in Afghanistan to support the Afghan army and government.

With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.

The Pentagon said Monday that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people — Afghans “friends and allies” — were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.

Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”

His poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden’s deadline could be a grave mistake, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.

Tuesday’s speech comes amid outrage expressed by some family members of those service members killed in last week’s airport attack over his handling of the withdrawal.

Some have criticized the president following Sunday’s dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, where he met with families. White House press secretary Jen Psaki wouldn’t respond directly to criticism from one family but said that the president feels responsible for their loss at a briefing on Monday.

Republican lawmakers have also blasted Biden for his handling of the withdrawal, with Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., calling the withdrawal a “national disgrace” and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., claiming Biden has armed the Taliban by leaving behind equipment.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” defended the withdrawal and contended that only the president, as commander in chief, knows what it is to make these hard decisions.

“Those criticizing are not the ones who have to sit in the Situation Room and make the hard calls about the threats that we face and the objectives we’re trying to obtain and President Biden made that hard call and it is a call he believes will ultimately serve the interests of our people, all of our citizens and our country,” he said on Tuesday.

Perhaps foreshadowing Biden’s remarks, Sullivan also claimed the U.S. and the international community have “enormous leverage” on the Taliban to ensure those Americans and Afghans who want to get out can do so.

But the administration hasn’t provided a clear plan for those evacuations beyond saying it’s relying on a Taliban commitment to provide “safe passage.”

The 100 to 200 Americans that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said still wanted to be evacuated weren’t able to reach the airport in Kabul on Monday before the last U.S. plane left. Of the five final flights, no American civilians made it on board.

Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S., who fear reprisal from the Taliban, also did not make it out and are forced to rely on Afghanistan’s new rulers for departure — of which there is no guarantee.

It’s unclear what the evacuation picture will look like now that the U.S. military is gone.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, speaking to the nation Tuesday, gave his fiercest defense yet of his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan — a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America’s longest war to a close — but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.

“Let me be clear, leaving August the 31st, is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives,” a defiant Biden said, responding to harsh criticism both of his decision to leave and how it was handled.

After praising what he called the “extraordinary success” U.S. troops had in conducting the rushed and dangerous evacuation, he bluntly blamed both the Afghan army and the Afghan government for collapsing so quickly and the Trump administration for making a deal with the Taliban, that he said inherited, that would have withdrawn all ground troops by May 1.

“So, we were left with a simple decision. Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan or say we weren’t leaving and commit to another tens of thousands more troops going back to war,” he claimed. “That was the choice, the real choice. Between leaving or escalating. I was not going to extend this forever war. And I was not extending a forever exit.”

His voice rising in anger at times, Biden continued, “It was time to be honest with the American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refuse to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should’ve ended long ago.”

The president’s prepared remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House came 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country, something Republicans and other critics have blasted as “leaving Americans behind.”

Biden downplayed that part of the foreign policy crisis, saying the U.S. had reached out to the remaining Americans 19 times.

“The bottom line, 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out,” Biden said, without detailing out how that could happen.

Biden had told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”

On Tuesday, he said that when he made the decision in April to end the war and set the Aug. 31 deadline, U.S. officials had assumed that the more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that they had trained over the past two decades would stand up to a Taliban takeover.

“That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate,” Biden said. “But I still instructed our national security team to prepare for every eventuality. Even that one. And that’s what we did.”

He did not mention the problems that have marred the past week in Afghanistan.

“The decision to end the military lift operation at Kabul airport was based on unanimous recommendation of my civilian and military advisers,” he said.

“I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner, and couldn’t this have been done — been done in a more orderly manner? I respectfully disagree,” he said. “The bottom line is, there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, threats we faced. None.”

Biden also used the national spotlight to fire back at critics who say the U.S. could have maintained a limited military presence.

“Those asking for the third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, what is the vital national interest?” Biden said. “The fundamental obligation of a president in my opinion is to defend and protect America. Not against threats of 2001 but against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow.”

Pres. Biden: “We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago. Then we stayed for another decade. It was time to end this war.” https://t.co/TQIuZzC8oG pic.twitter.com/uu2YDmXKTa

— ABC News (@ABC) August 31, 2021

“My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over. I’m the fourth president that must face the issue of whether and when to end this war. When I was running for president, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. Today I’ve honored that commitment,” he said.

With the military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.

The Pentagon said that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people — Afghans “friends and allies” — were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.

The president’s poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden’s deadline could be a grave mistake, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.

“I give you my word with all of my heart,” Biden said Tuesday. “I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LA.) — Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana as a fierce Category 4 storm on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, bringing a new wave of devastation to the South.

Ida made landfall in Louisiana twice, first near Port Fourchon before noon local time and again two hours later in Lafourche Parish, obliterating neighborhoods and turning clear roads into rivers.

Ida appears to be less lethal than Katrina, which hit as a Category 3, claimed more than 1,800 lives and caused more than $100 billion in damage.

So far, three deaths have been attributed to Ida: a 60-year-old man in Ascension Parish died Sunday when a tree fell on a home, a motorist drowned in New Orleans, and a third person died in Jefferson Parish.

In Mississippi, two people died and at least 10 others were injured when a part of a highway near Lucedale gave out and sent vehicles plunging into a hole. Mississippi Highway Patrol Cp. Cal Robertson said the inundating rain may have caused the collapse.

The storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain in some places like Rigolets-Slidell, Louisiana, and 13 inches in New Orleans. Ida also brought powerful winds gusts of over 100 mph in some regions.

Ida also knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi — including all of New Orleans — and temporarily halted the city’s 911 emergency response system.

Over 1 million customers remain without power in Louisiana, as of Tuesday morning, according to poweroutage.us, as well as 55,000 in Mississippi and 7,000 in Alabama.

Officials in Jefferson Parish, home to 400,000 residents, warned it could be 21 days before power is restored.

Communities reeling from the destruction are now stranded without water. Some 18 water system outages have impacted over 312,000 customers and 14 boil water advisories are in place impacting over 329,000 people, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a press conference Monday evening.

Heat advisories are active in parts of Louisiana, threatening communities grappling with no electricity or access to air conditioning. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for southern Louisiana and Mississippi from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Another element Katrina didn’t have is the COVID-19 crisis. Some Louisiana hospitals pushed to the brink with an influx of coronavirus cases were forced to evacuate due to physical damage, water and electrical issues.

The Louisiana Department of Health told ABC News at least 11 hospitals had evacuations on some level and Terrebonne General Health System’s evacuation is still underway.

At least 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, Associated Press reported.

The state fire marshal office’s leading task force of about 900 individuals from 15 different states is conducting search and rescue missions with local responders. Some 5,000 National Guard members are also on the ground.

Edwards said at least 671 were rescued by Monday afternoon, with some desperate locals fleeing to their attics or roofs to wait for help.

Over 2,200 evacuees are staying in 41 shelters, Edwards said.

Jaclyn Hotard, the president of St. John the Baptist Parish, called Ida, “one of the worst natural disasters I’ve ever seen in St. John,” noting that “almost 800 people” have been rescued due to extreme flooding.

Entergy New Orleans, a major electricity company in the region, said a storm team of more than 20,000 and growing is assessing the vast damage and destruction across New Orleans and southeast Louisiana that toppled power poles and other equipment.

Over 3,600 FEMA employees have been deployed to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to help with meals, water and generators for power, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

Ida, now a tropical depression, is centered on the border of Missouri and Tennessee and threatens to bring deadly flash flooding to the Gulf coast overnight as it continues to move north and east. Almost 80 million in 17 states are on flash flood alert from Mississippi to Massachusetts.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Ida is barreling through Louisiana after making landfall in the state as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Sunday afternoon.

It was one of the strongest hurricanes on record — by both wind speed and pressure — to roar ashore in Louisiana.

Ida, now a tropical storm, is hitting on the 16-year anniversary of Katrina, a Category 3 hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina unleashed a series of events, taking the lives of more than 1,800 people and leaving more than $100 billion worth of damage in its wake.

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 30, 10:13 pm
Almost 800 rescued in St. John the Baptist Parish

Officials with St. John the Baptist Parish held a press conference Monday night, saying, “almost 800 people” have been rescued after extreme flooding due to Hurricane Ida.

“This is one of the worst natural disasters I’ve ever seen in St. John,” Parish President Jaclyn Hotard said.

Remarkably, Hotard said there have been no reported fatalities in the parish from the storm.

“All of the missions were successful,” Hotard said. “Every call that came in for someone to be rescued out of their home, they have been rescued out of their home.”

The hard-hit town of Laplace is in St John the Baptist Parish.

Aug 30, 8:55 pm
Tulane cancels in-person learning until October, sets up Houston hub for students

Tulane University announced Monday night that it would cancel all in-person classes until Oct. 6.

The campus is closed and all classes will be canceled until Sept. 13, the university tweeted. The semester began last week.

The school is establishing a hub in Houston to provide food and lodging at Tulane’s expense for students until they can get flights home.

“Beginning tomorrow at 10AM, we will evacuate all remaining students (undergraduate & graduate; in-residence & off-campus) to Houston via bus,” the school tweeted.

Emergency funds will also be available for students, according to Tulane.

Aug 30, 8:18 pm
3rd storm-related death confirmed

Deano Bonano, a councilman for District 2 in Jefferson Parish, told ABC News that there has been one confirmed fatality in his parish from Hurricane Ida.

Details about the death and the identity of the victim weren’t immediately available.

Aug 30, 8:08 pm
20,000 workers out assessing damage, restoring power

An anticipated storm team of more than 20,000 and growing has begun assessing Ida’s damage and restoring power, according to Louisiana’s utility companies.

Damage assessment could take several days, since many areas are currently inaccessible either by roadways, officials at Entergy Louisiana said Monday afternoon.

While 90% of customers will be restored sooner, customers in the hardest-hit areas should plan for the possibility of experiencing extended power outages, according to Entergy.

“This will be a marathon, not a sprint,” Deanna Rodriguez, Entergy New Orleans’ president and CEO said in a statement.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.