our thanks to dakota semler.resident biden is expected to give some sort of explanation for the u.s. response. president biden: secretary austin, national security advisor sullivan, other members of the national security leadership team, the situation room, we discussed our ongoing efforts to evacuate american citizens, afghan allies, and vulnerable afghans. i want to provide the american people with a brief update on the situation in afghanistan. since i spoke to you on monday, we have made significant progress. we have secure the airport, enabling flights to resume, not just military flights but civilian charters from other countries, and the ngo's taking out civilians in vulnerable -- and horrible afghani's. now we have almost 6000 troops on the ground, including the 82nd airborne providing security, the 10th mountain division standing guard around the airport, and the 24th marine expeditionary unit helping the civilian department. this is one of the largest and most difficult air lives in history. the only co