the region to reopen the airport, allowing for continued departure for those who want to leave and delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of afghanistan. for now the president says, quote, i urge all americans to join me in grateful prayer tonight for three things. first, for our troops and diplomats who carried out this mission of mercy in kabul and at tremendous risk with such unparalleled results. an air lift that evacuated tens of thousands more people than any imagined possible. second, to the network of volunteers and veterans who helped identify those needing evacuation, guide them to the airport and provide support along the way. and third, to everyone who is now and will welcome our afghan allies to their new homes around the world and in the united states. the president calling for grateful prayer tonight for those three things. he then closes with a call for gratitude for the sacrifice of the 13 u.s. service members who were killed last week while
the last several days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in u.s. history, evacuating 122,000 of our citizens and allies of the united states. they have done it with you unmatched courage, and i will not extend my will to afghanistan beyond august 31st. it was a decision by our joint chiefs and all of those on the ground to end our mission as planned. ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops and secure the prospects of civilian departures of those who want to leave afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead. i asked them to cooperate with our international partners, afghan partners and foreign nationals who want to leave that country. this will include ongoing diplomacy in afghanistan and coordination with partners in
that the u.s. military is no longer on the ground in afghanistan, we are witnessing an administrative handoff of this issue from the military to fully the responsibility of the united states state department and the nation s diplomats. tonight america s top diplomat, secretary of state, gave us the first outlines of what that might look like going forward while he reaffirmed president biden s commitment that the u.s. government will get out everybody from that country who wants to leave. an american in afghanistan tells us they want to stay for now, and then in a week or a month or a year, they reach out and say, i ve changed my mind, we will help them leave. additionally, we worked intensely to evacuate and relocate afghans who worked alongside us. we will work to secure their safe passage. this morning i met with the foreign ministers of all the g-7 countries as well as cutter, turkey, the european union and the secretary general of nato. we discussed how we will work
facilitating the civilian evacuations from the airport. in his statement tonight, he lists them all by name. again, this from the president tonight as the u.s. ends the longest war in our history, as the united states becomes the third world superpower to leave afghanistan after years of fighting, thousands of casualties, and no certain outcome that bears resemblance to the stated objectives that justified continuing the war for this long. it was the british, it was the russians, today it s us. president biden will address the country tomorrow. for now, it is something to see the headlines across the front pages tonight at the new york times, at the washington post, at the wall street journal, usa today, just stunning reach. this date will, in fact, live in history.
commitment for being commissioned as an officer. when i saw those tragic attacks on our homeland, on the united states, on the twin towers, i was serving in the aircraft carrier at the time, it was a moment i knew i needed to continue to serve, because what i was doing was important, my time in uniform was important, and defending our country was essential. so from that point forward, i stayed for another 15 years. i think there are so many people i mourn the tragic loss of the 13 americans who died during the evacuation. and they put their lives on the lines to continue to defend our country overseas and understand that we have enemies overseas and they re still there and they re still sticking to our allies. i look back and think about our 20 years in afghanistan, the success of that was truly that we did prevent terrorists from gaining ground and planting a seed in afghanistan from which they could launch attacks against our country. but as we withdraw, i think it s an incredibly