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       U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington.

       Evan Vucci/The Associated Press

       U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday rejected criticism of his decision to stick to a deadline to pull out of Afghanistan this week, a move that left 100 to 200 Americans in the country along with thousands of U.S.-aligned Afghan citizens.

       In a televised address from the White House State Dining Room, Biden criticized the ousted Afghan government’s inability to fight back against swift Taliban advances, which forced the United States and its NATO allies into a hasty and humiliating exit, and highlighted the role played by former U.S. president Donald Trump.

       The deal brokered by Trump authorized “the release of 5,000 prisoners last year, including some of the Taliban’s top war commanders, among those who just took control,” Biden said.

       “By the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country,” he said.

       U.S. officials believe 100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan “with some intention to leave,” Biden said. He said most of those who remained were dual citizens and long-time residents who earlier had decided to stay, adding the United States was determined to get them out.

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       Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal to board a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021.

       Gemunu Amarasinghe/The Associated Press

       Many lawmakers had called on Biden to extend the Aug. 31 deadline to allow more Americans and Afghans to escape, but Biden said it was “not an arbitrary deadline,” but one “designed to save lives.”

       “I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner and couldn’t this have been done in a more orderly manner. I respectfully disagree,” said Biden.

       Even if evacuations had begun in June or July, he said, “there still would have been a rush to the airport” by people wanting to leave.

       The departure of the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan this week as the Taliban took over caps two decades of military involvement that Biden was determined to end.

       While most Americans agreed with him, that end has not come smoothly. Biden’s presidency, which had been focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the economy, now faces political probes over the handling of the withdrawal as well as the logistical challenge of finding new homes for thousands of Afghans being moved to U.S. military bases.

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       Biden also must contend with a surge in coronavirus infections, disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, and a series of difficult deadlines to get signature spending measures through Congress.

       Republicans and some Democrats have expressed frustration and anger at the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the former leaders who were ousted by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and what they say has been a botched withdrawal.

       Republicans are expected to use the crisis to try to derail Biden’s policy and legislative agenda and as a talking point in the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans hope to take control of the Senate and House of Representatives from Biden’s Democrats, which could hobble the second half of his presidency.

       Biden said more troops would have had to go to Afghanistan and into harm’s way if the exit had not occurred.

       Less than 40% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal, and three quarters wanted U.S. forces to remain in the country until all American civilians could get out, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday.

       Leading House Republicans, including the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said they wrote on Monday to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, requesting details of the plan to repatriate Americans and evacuate others left behind.

       “Congress has a right to know how these evacuations will be facilitated and conducted,” McCaul said in a statement.

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       Afghan citizens, who have been evacuated from Kabul, disembark from a U.S Air Force transport plane as they arrive at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota Air Base in Rota, southern Spain, Aug. 31, 2021.

       JON NAZCA/Reuters

       Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’ in call before Taliban takeover In the last call between Biden and his Afghanistan counterpart before the Taliban seized control of the country, the leaders discussed military aid, political strategy and messaging tactics, but neither Biden nor Ashraf Ghani appeared aware of or prepared for the immediate danger of the entire country falling to insurgents, a transcript reviewed by Reuters shows.

       The men spoke for roughly 14 minutes on July 23. On Aug. 15, Ghani fled the presidential palace, and the Taliban entered Kabul.

       Reuters reviewed a transcript of the presidential phone call and has listened to the audio to authenticate the conversation. The materials were provided on condition of anonymity by a source who was not authorized to distribute it.

       In the call, Biden offered aid if Ghani could publicly project he had a plan to control the spiraling situation in Afghanistan. “We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,” Biden said. Days before the call, the U.S. carried out air strikes to support Afghan security forces, a move the Taliban said was in violation of the Doha peace agreement.

       The U.S. president also advised Ghani to get buy-in from powerful Afghans for a military strategy going forward, and then to put a “warrior” in charge of the effort, a reference to Defense Minister General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.

       Biden lauded the Afghan armed forces, which were trained and funded by the U.S. government. “You clearly have the best military,” he told Ghani. “You have 300,000 well-armed forces versus 70-80,000 and they’re clearly capable of fighting well.” Days later, the Afghan military started folding across provincial capitals in the country with little fight against the Taliban.

       In much of the call, Biden focused on what he called the Afghan government’s “perception” problem. “I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden said. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”

       Biden told Ghani that if Afghanistan’s prominent political figures were to give a press conference together, backing a new military strategy, “that will change perception, and that will change an awful lot I think.”

       The American leader’s words indicated he didn’t anticipate the massive insurrection and collapse to come 23 days later. “We are going to continue to fight hard, diplomatically, politically, economically, to make sure your government not only survives, but is sustained and grows,” said Biden.

       The White House Tuesday declined to comment on the call.

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