Overlapping crises of Afghanistan pullout debacle, COVID-19 surge engulf White House

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Overlapping crises arising from a chaotic exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and an appalling surge in COVID-19 cases have engulfed the White House.

The United States hopes to complete its Afghan evacuation by the end of this month, President Joe Biden said during a Group of Seven (G7) virtual meeting on Tuesday, while he has asked for the creation of contingency plans to adjust the timeline if necessary.

The remarks came after Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns reportedly held a secret meeting with Taliban senior leader Abdul Ghani Baradar on Monday in Kabul. A Taliban spokesman has said the United States should pull out all troops and contractors from Afghanistan before the deadline.

Biden is facing pressure to extend the evacuations beyond the deadline. U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff told reporters on Monday that "it's hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month."

In April, Biden ordered all U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan before Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew Washington into its longest war, before bringing forward the deadline in July to Aug. 31.

"The Biden administration seems to feel it important for reasons of domestic politics or international credibility, or perhaps obligation to the Taliban......to keep to this artificial deadline," Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at U.S. think tank Brookings Institution.

The United States has been scrambling to airlift Americans and its Afghan allies from the country since the Taliban entered the capital Kabul on Aug. 15.

Around 21,600 individuals were evacuated during a 24 hour-period ending early Tuesday morning, according to the White House. In total, approximately 58,700 people had left the country since Aug. 14.

As the Biden administration continues to be criticized over the Afghanistan fallout, it is also struggling to deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States.

The current seven-day moving average of daily new cases in the United States stands at 133,056, an increase of 14 percent compared with the previous average, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weekly report.

The combined proportion of cases attributed to Delta variant, which is coursing through regions of the United States where many residents refuse to be vaccinated or haven't received the vaccine shots, is estimated to have increased to 98.8 percent nationally, the report showed.

If the overwhelming majority of Americans get vaccinated, the United States could get the pandemic under control by the spring of 2022, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN during an interview on Monday.

As of Tuesday, 51.6 percent of the total U.S. population were fully vaccinated, CDC data showed.

With the Delta variant, plus the Afghanistan fiasco on his plate, Biden must tread carefully if he wishes to pass his agenda, according to experts.

"There clearly have been many problems in how things have gone, so Biden has to reassure Americans and the rest of the world that he can make adjustments, handle unexpected developments, and deal with the people who want to get out," said Darrell West, also a Brookings Institution senior fellow.

"If he can recoup lost ground and move things forward, his agenda should move forward," West argued. "But it is important that he handles both Delta and Afghanistan in ways that are effective. He has a lot riding on the next few weeks."

Congressional Democrats are trying to advance Biden's economic package on Capitol Hill.

Biden's overall job-approval rating has dipped below 50 percent among adults for the first time in his early presidency, according to a new NBC News poll released on Sunday.

The polls showed 49 percent of adults approve of Biden's overall job performance, while 48 percent disapprove.

The poll also found fewer Americans support the Democrat's handling of COVID-19 than they did last spring, and just a quarter of respondents approve of his handling of Afghanistan.

It's all produced a "summer of discontent" for Biden, said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.

"The promise of April has led to the peril of August," Horwitt said, pointing out that the pandemic -- more than Afghanistan -- has dented Biden's numbers. "It is the domestic storm, COVID's delta wave, that is causing more difficulties at this stage here at home and for President Biden."