​Joe Biden finally breaking his silence ​

US President Joe Biden is finally set to speak to the American people about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Mr Biden ordered the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan back in April, setting a deadline of September 11.

In recent weeks, as that withdrawal neared its completion, the Taliban overran the Afghan military and swept across the country, conquering most major cities.

It now controls the capital, Kabul, and the deposed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled overseas. US forces are still evacuating personnel from Kabul International Airport, where at least seven Afghans have died in their desperate attempts to leave the country. Several are believed to have fallen from the sky after clinging to departing US aircraft.

Today the Pentagon announced that another 1000 soldiers would head to Kabul to help secure the airport, bringing the total US presence in Afghanistan to 7000. There were only 2500 there before the withdrawal started.

Through all of this chaos, Mr Biden has been on holiday at Camp David, though he has been getting updates from national security officials. He has not spoken on camera since last week.

The President is returning to the White House for his address, which is scheduled to take place at 3:45pm local time. That’s 5:45am in Sydney.

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When Mr Biden took office, he inherited a plan from his predecessor Donald Trump to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1.

That deadline was set under the terms of the Doha agreement, which the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban’s leadership.

Mr Biden could have walked away from it. Instead, he merely pushed the deadline back to September, saying the original timeline was unrealistic.

In July, he was asked whether the US leaving made the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan “inevitable”.

“No,” the President responded.

“The Afghan troops have 300,000 well equipped (soldiers), as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable.

“The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”

Not exactly prophetic.

He also claimed there would be “no circumstance” comparable to the chaotic US withdrawal from Saigon in the Vietnam War.

“There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States in Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”

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