Former Obama Press Secretary Says It's 'Imperative' for Biden to Speak on Afghanistan

With the Taliban's sudden takeover of the capital city of Kabul, a former Obama administration press secretary says it's imperative for President Joe Biden to address the nation on the unfolding situation in Afghanistan.

Replying to a tweet reporting that the White House is discussing how and when Biden will speak about Afghanistan, Robert Gibbs said he hopes "this happens very soon."

"Imperative for the President to speak to the nation and the world," wrote Gibbs, who served as the 27th White House press secretary from 2009 to 2011. "He must lay out again the reasoning behind his decisions, how he sees the future of this region & what must be done to prevent another safe haven for al-Qaeda to plan attacks."

While Biden has spoken about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in recent weeks, he has remained silent since Kabul fell to the Taliban over the weekend. Late Monday morning, the White House said he would return from Camp David to address the situation in Afghanistan. The president is expected to speak at 3:45 p.m. from the East Room.

The Biden administration has come under criticism as the U.S. tries to hastily evacuate personnel from its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban's takeover of the city over the weekend. Only weeks earlier, the president had said the situation in Afghanistan would not escalate to such a point.

"There's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the—of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable [to Vietnam]," Biden said on July 8.

"The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," he added.

But video footage from Kabul's international airport showed civilians clinging onto U.S. military aircraft as they tried to flee the country with the remaining diplomatic personnel.

The Taliban's takeover has also renewed fears about what lies ahead for Afghan women and girls, given the group's strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. Under previous Taliban rule, women were banned from attending school and working in jobs outside of health care. In public, they had to be accompanied by a male relative and wear a burqa at all times.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, told the Today show Monday that the administration was aware of reports that Taliban commanders have demanded that unmarried women and girls be handed over.

"Every policy decision that we take, no matter how big or how small, has human consequences," Sullivan said. "We are aware of that, and it is heartbreaking to see what is happening in Afghanistan right now."

He said the U.S. would do "everything in our power" to hold the Taliban accountable, but added that the president wasn't prepared to do the alternative—"to physically protect people in Afghanistan. To put American men and women, in large numbers, back in harm's way, fighting and dying in a civil war that [Afghanistan's] own forces wouldn't fight in."

While a number of White House officials have addressed the U.S. withdrawal, questions remained about when the president will address the chaos in Afghanistan himself.

Asked why Biden hasn't communicated with the American people since Sunday's news, White House deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer told CNN's Brianna Keilar, "The president has been deeply engaged in all of the policy conversations and in the situation as it evolves in real time."

He added, "We have met with the president and his entire national security team daily and often multiple times a day. That's going to continue again today."

Newsweek reached out to the White House for further comment but did not hear back before publication.