tonight, the wall street journal is planning for emergency evacuation in kabul, but despite the concerns, the today president biden made clear that despite all of these concerns, it is time for afghanistan to handle its own security. look, we re in that war for 20 years. 20 years. i think they have the capacity to it be able to sustain the government. we have worked out an over the horizon capacity that we can be value added. but the afghans have to do it themselves with the air force they have. with the potential collapse of the afghan government looming
the commandos are proficient, do a good job working on their own. the air force has come a long way from where they were 10 or 15 years ago. but the overall concern is that many of the rank and file afghan military, they fold at times when the taliban, you know, when they are faced with the taliban fighters. and at times it s not just that they are overrun by them, but they simply surrender and walk away. at sometimes even surrendering their own weapons. so it s the afghan military is they can protect the country in some places, but the biggest threat that afghanistan faces right now is kabul being overrun. and that s what military officials that i have spoken with are really concerned about, is that the afghan military, even the most elite, the well trained among them will not be able to hold off the taliban from taking back kabul, and that s where you hear concerns of a potential civil war. if the taliban take over kabul, the government will fall.
what would have been the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack. a small u.s. force of up to 1,000 troops will remain on the ground, mostly to protect the u.s. embassy and kabul s international airport. the withdrawal is moving faster than expected. today the pentagon clarified saying the withdrawal will be complete by the end of august. that s raising concerns among some military officials who fear a complete taliban takeover. that is well underway. nbc news reporting the taliban claims to have taken over 69 of the country s 407 districts, just since may 1st. now controls a third of the country. scott miller said in a rare briefing this week that gains by the taliban are concerning.