Politics

President Biden Cancels Weekend Plans to Stay At White House Amid Afghanistan Crisis

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Anders Hagstrom White House Correspondent
Font Size:

President Joe Biden canceled his weekend plans to travel to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and will remain in Washington at least through Saturday morning, the White House announced Friday.

Biden was originally scheduled to depart for Delaware on Friday afternoon. He faced heavy criticism for spending the previous weekend in Delaware and Camp David amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

U.S. troops remain on the ground in Kabul to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies, though reporters on the ground say the process is disorganized, dangerous and slow.

CNN reporter Clarissa Ward, who is at the Kabul airport, reported that no U.S. flights had departed in the eight hours prior to roughly 9 a.m. EST. (RELATED: CNN Reporter Clarissa Ward Describes Moment Taliban Charged At Her In Kabul)

Biden has refused to take questions from reporters following both of his speeches this week. He instead only interviewed with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, a longtime Democratic campaign official and member of the Clinton administration.

The Biden administration estimates that there are 10,000-15,000 U.S. citizens still in Afghanistan. It is unclear how any citizens outside Kabul will make it to the airport, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the U.S. does not have the “capacity” to provide safe transit to the airport for Americans already in Kabul.