President Joe Biden has spoken out in more detail about his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of the country.
In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, the 78-year-old POTUS revealed that he believes there was no way of withdrawing US defense from Afghanistan without "chaos ensuing".
Stephanopoulos asked Biden: "So you don't think this could have been handled - this exit could have been handled better in any way, no mistakes?"
To which the president replied: "No, I don't think it could have been handled in a way that, we're gonna go back in hindsight and look - but the idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened."
The iconic political commentator then asked Biden if he had always factored that into his decision, to which the POTUS replied: "Yes."
However, clarifying his answer, Biden added: "Now exactly what happened, I've not priced in.
"But I knew that they're going to have an enormous - Look, one of the things we didn't know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out. What they would do.
"What are they doing now? They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera, but they're having - we're having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there."
On Sunday, August 15, the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul and declared the war "over".
The toppling led to thousands of civilians rushing to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport - crowding runways and holding on to planes in an apparent attempt to flee the country. Additionally, 11,000 Americans in Afghanistan at the time, GMA reports.
On Monday, Biden spoke from the East Room of The White House, telling the US people: "Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building."
"I stand squarely behind my decision," Biden added.
And after admitting the withdrawal had become "messy", he stated: "After 20 years, I learned the hard way that there was never a good way to withdraw our forces."
The President then spoke about Afghanistan's political leadership, saying:
"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong — incredibly well equipped — a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies.
"We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force — something the Taliban doesn’t have. Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support.
"We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future."
"I will not repeat the mistakes we've made in the past," he added.
On August 18, Reuters reported that Biden's approval rating dropped by 7 percentage points - his lowest so far.