Meanwhile, Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told a White House press briefing today that it's not up to the Taliban to set the timing of US withdrawal, that's a decision for Biden and Biden alone.

https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/jen-psaki-jake-sullivan-white-house-press-briefing-on-afghanistan-taliban-takeover-transcript-august-23

Speaker 1: (05:22)
Thanks, Jake. A Taliban spokesman has said that it would be a red line for the U.S to keep troops in Afghanistan past its own August 31st deadline. Are you engaged in talks with the Taliban over extending that deadline? And how are those talks going?

Jake Sullivan: (05:40)
We are in talks with the Taliban on a daily basis, through both political and security channels. I’m not going to get into the details of those discussions here to protect those discussions, which are covering a wide range of issues. We are also consulting closely with our allies and partners on the issue of the and its progress. In fact, the President just got off the phone with the British Prime Minister a short time ago. We are taking this day by day. We believe we are making enormous progress. And taking a step back, a week ago, I don’t think almost anyone in this briefing room would have thought we’d be standing here today with 37,000 people already evacuated from the country. We believe we’re making progress. We’re going to keep making progress. And the President will ultimately make his decision about the precise shape and scope of the operation.

Speaker 1: (06:25)
And has the President decided whether he is going to need more time beyond August 31st to get all U.S personnel and Afghan people out of the country?

Jake Sullivan: (06:35)
As I said, the President believes we are making substantial progress. Dozens of flights, thousands, now tens of thousands of people evacuated from the country. We believe today will be an efficient and effective day, and tomorrow and the next day as well. And as I said, he is taking this day by day and will make his determinations as we go. Yes?

Speaker 2: (06:56)
Just to follow up, does the administration thinks that they need Taliban agreement to extend beyond August 31st?

Jake Sullivan: (07:03)
As I said, we are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now. On what’s happening at the airport. On how we need to ensure that there is facilitated passage to the airport for American citizens, SIVs, third country nationals and so forth. We’ll continue those conversations with them. Ultimately, it will be the President’s decision how this proceeds, no one else’s. Yes?

Speaker 3: (07:31)
Jake, you said you, “We have the wherewithal to get Americans out.” Forgive me if I didn’t get the quote right in your statement. But you didn’t say that we have the ability to get them out, you didn’t set a timeframe, by August 31st.

Jake Sullivan: (07:46)
So as I’ve said before, as the President has said before, we believe that we have time between now and the 31st to get out any American who wants to get out. Yes?