Still Hiding

Missoula MT

Description

President Biden Friday will again leave the White House for Wilmington, Delaware, as the military and State Department work evacuate Americans and Afghan allies amid the botched withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Biden spent most of the last week in Wilmington and the Camp David presidential retreat as the crisis in Afghanistan spiraled out of control. He was in Camp David when the Taliban completed their sweep into power Sunday – the same day Americans abandoned the Kabul embassy. Amid intense pressure to return to the White House Monday, Biden flew into town and delivered brief remarks only to immediately fly back to Camp David. That same day, video splashed across the internet of Afghans clinging to a departing American airplane at the Kabul airport, before falling from the sky to their deaths. The president returned to the White House late Tuesday night. He sat for an interview with ABC Wednesday and delivered remarks on COVID-19 without taking press questions. The president did not have any public appearances Thursday. And Friday afternoon, after less than 72 hours at the White House this week, Biden will return to his personal residence after delivering remarks on the Afghanistan crisis. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about when Biden will return to the nation's capital from his latest out-of-town trip. It also did not say whether Biden will take questions at his press conference Friday – the fact he did not drew audible scoffs from the White House press corps Wednesday. Biden's latest trip to his personal residence comes after the Pentagon admitted Thursday it does not know how many Americans are left in Afghanistan. News sources said this week that the Taliban has set up checkpoints outside of the Kabul airport and is beating people and arbitrarily denying entry. The State Department has been including a line in its messages telling Americans to come to the Kabul airport for evacuations saying: "THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CANNOT ENSURE SAFE PASSAGE TO THE HAMID KARZAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT." The State Department's latest guidance Friday said Americans should "use their best judgment getting to the airport" and warned that "airport gates may open or close without notice."