Former US general in Afghanistan David Petraeus disagrees with Joe Biden's assessment of crisis
In full: ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo speaks to General David Petraeus
A retired general who once led US forces in Afghanistan has disputed Joe Biden's assertion that the country's dire situation is the responsibility of Afghans.
General David Petraeus, the US former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, described the situation as "disastrous".
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, in his first interview since the Taliban took control, there was not anything his administration could have done to avoid the chaos witnessed in Kabul over the last few days.
Speaking to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Mr Biden pushed back against criticism that the US should have done more to plan for the evacuation and withdrawal - which has been marked by scenes of violence and chaos as thousands attempted to flee from Kabul while the Taliban advanced. "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", he said.
Frantic Afghans run alongside and cling onto the side of a US military plane as it begins to take off from Kabul
But former general David Petraeus described the collapse as: "Disastrous, hugely disappointing, heartbreaking, sad, tragic, but again let’s put this in the context and understand how this came about".
General Petraeus added that Mr Biden had failed to acknowledge the role Afghans played during the US military's time in Afghanistan.
"In the speech earlier in the week, I thought there should have been some acknowledgement that Afghans have fought and died for their country in huge numbers, 27 times as many Afghan security force members have been killed over mostly the last decade, as have been killed American soldiers on the ground, way over 60,000", he told ITV News.
"And they have fought and died, and they've stayed in the fight and gone to the fight, ridden to the sound of the guns, as they say, as long as they've had a sense that someone had their back", he added.
General Petraeus also reiterated that the most important mission for the US was to ensure that "every American citizen who wants to leave Afghanistan can depart" and that the country's "moral obligations" to the interpreters and other Afghans who aided the US military to also get them out.
"That could be as many as 60 or more thousand additional Afghan individuals and their families, all of whom were lives were put in jeopardy by their service with us", he said.
"But again, let's focus on where we are right now, recognising that the way to shore up our credibility, our reputation around the world is to show that we do care about those who served alongside our men and women in uniform and their families".