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Biden Touts 'Incredible' Evacuation Operation From Kabul, But Warns Of Ongoing Danger

President Joe Biden speaks at a microphone during a press conference at the White House.
Manuel Balce Ceneta
/
AP
President Joe Biden answers a question from a reporter about the situation in Afghanistan as he speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

In a televised address from the White House, President Biden plans to update the nation Sunday on the status of Tropical Storm Henri, as well as the evacuation effort in Afghanistan.

Henri, which made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon, has already knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut, according to power companies National Grid and EverSource. Flash flooding has also been reported from New Jersey to Massachusetts.

Biden has approved emergency aid for New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Biden is also expected to discuss the evacuation effort in Afghanistan. This weekend, 23 U.S. military flights have evacuated around 3,900 people from the country, and 35 coalition aircraft have evacuated another 3,900, the White House said. This brings the total evacuations to over 25,000 since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last week.

Biden is scheduled to speak from the Roosevelt Room beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Matthew S. Schwartz is a reporter with NPR's news desk. Before coming to NPR, Schwartz worked as a reporter for Washington, DC, member station WAMU, where he won the national Edward R. Murrow award for feature reporting in large market radio. Previously, Schwartz worked as a technology reporter covering the intricacies of Internet regulation. In a past life, Schwartz was a Washington telecom lawyer. He got his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.A. from the University of Michigan ("Go Blue!").