Washington, August 23: US President Joe Biden during an address from White House said that discussions are going on among us and the military about extending (Aug 31 evacuation deadline), our hope is, we don’t have to extend.

“There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain & loss and the heartbreaking images you see, it’s just a fact. My heart aches for those people you see. At the end of the day, if we didn’t leave Afghanistan now, when would we?” he said.

We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops. We’re maintaining constant vigilance to monitor and disrupt threats from any source, including ISIS and the Afghan affiliate known as ISIS-K, he added.

On being asked –do you trust them (Taliban) now, the Biden said, “I don’t trust anybody, including you, I love you but there is not a lot of people I trust. Taliban has to make a fundamental decision.”

Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 30,300 people on military and coalition flights. Since the end of July, we have relocated approximately 35,500 people, said a White House official.