'That was four or five days ago!' Biden snaps in car-crash interview after being asked about Afghans falling from planes in Kabul and claims US could NOT have gotten out 'without chaos ensuing'

President Joe Biden angrily defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying on Wednesday that chaos was unavoidable and snapping when asked about horrific images of Afghans falling from planes.

'That was four days ago, five days ago,' he said, even though the images of people falling to their deaths emerged on Monday.

The combative moment came during an interview with former Clinton White House official George Stephanopoulos for ABC News.

And in a second excerpt shared ahead of the chat, Biden also insisted he'd been told by his intelligence officials that Kabul would likely avoid falling to the Taliban until the end of 2021 - instead of the mere days it took.

'There was no consensus if you go back and look at intelligence reports,' the president said when asked if there had been intelligence failings. 'They said that it's more likely to be some time by the end of the year.'

Defending his decision to withdraw, Biden added: 'Look, it was a simple choice, George,' Biden said. 'When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country; when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, up to 300,000 of them, just leaving their equipment and taking off -- that was, you know, I'm not, that's what happened. That's simply what happened.'

The president also sought to scotch rumors that the US is planning to withdraw all troops aiding its rescue mission in just days, amid reports the UK is concerned about a sudden departure after being kept in the dark by its closest ally.

Biden said: 'If there's American citizens left, we're going to stay to get them all out

President Biden defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during an interview on Wednesday, saying it was difficult to see how chaos could have been avoided

'So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond Aug. 31?' Stephanopoulos then asked.

'No,' Biden answered. 'Americans should understand that we're going to try to get it done before Aug. 31.' But he then said, 'If we don't, we'll determine at the time who's left.'

He defended the US withdrawal, which saw the Afghan government crumble and fall to the Taliban 11 days later, adding: 'The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing — I don't know how that happens.'

Biden has avoided taking questions on the Afghanistan crisis for more than a week.

The White House has been on the defensive for weeks as Taliban fighters raced across the country.

And officials have struggled to explain how they failed to forecast the rapid fall of Kabul and to account for chaotic scenes at the city's airport as the embassy was evacuated.

Biden answered questions about his Afghan withdrawal for the first time in more than a week during an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News

Video captured bodies falling from a plane as it flew out of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday. Hundreds of Afghans tried to hitch rides on departing planes

Scenes of civilians swamping planes on the runway at the Kabul airport, desperate for escape, have triggered bipartisan criticism that the Biden administration should have been better prepared.

'What did you think when you first saw those pictures?' Stephanopoulos asked.

'What I thought was, we have to gain control of this,' said Biden.

'We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.'

Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco worsened as...

By late Tuesday, U.S. officials said they had rescued 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy personnel, except for a core group of diplomats who remained at Kabul airport.

But commanders admit they are unable to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport to help other Americans - and their Afghan allies - to safety.

Stephanopoulos asked whether the exit could have been better handled.

'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,' said Biden.

Biden says US troops will STAY in Afghanistan past the August 31 deadline if there are still American citizens that need to be evacuated

President Joe Biden said when pressed Wednesday that U.S. troops were 'going to stay' in Afghanistan until they get American citizens out, even if it means running through an August 31 deadline order.

He made the statement despite his own order that U.S. troops will leave by an August 31 deadline, acknowledging the effort could run over if American citizens are still stuck in Afghanistan amid security and bureaucratic hurdles.

'We've got like 10 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now. Right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out is out?' George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Biden in an interview airing Wednesday and Thursday.

'Yes,' Biden replied.

'So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond Aug. 31st?' the Good Morning America host asked him.

President Joe Biden said U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan to get all U.S. citizens out of Afghanistan, suggesting they would stay even beyond an August 31 deadline if necessary

'No,' Biden dodged. 'Americans should understand that we're going to try to get it done before Aug. 31st.'

Stephanopoulos pressed him. 'But if we don't,' Stephanopoulos said, 'the troops will stay? he asked.

'If we don't, we'll determine at the time who's left,' Biden responded, prompting his interviewer to make one more stab at an answer.

'And?' Stephanopoulos asked him

'And if you're American force – if there's American citizens left, we're going to stay to get them all out,' Biden responded.

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos grilled President Biden on an August 31 deadline for withdrawing American troops

He was less direct on the fate of allied Afghans, putting their number at between 50,000 and 65,000, and scoffing at a higher estimate by his interviewer.

'The commitment holds to get everyone out that, in fact, we can get out and everyone who should come out. And that's the objective. That's what we're doing now. That's the path we're on. And I think we'll get there,' Biden said.

His answer comes after reporters have repeatedly tried to get top Pentagon officials to say what would happen if the U.S. runs up against the deadline, amid partially empty flights out of the country, even amid capabilities to get thousands out each day.

All remaining Americans in Afghanistan are being told to make their own way to Kabul airport now to be flown home and are being told that it is safe for them to make the journey despite widespread fears on the ground that the Taliban will stop them, hold them hostage or kill them.

There are still some 11,000 Americans in Afghanistan waiting to be flown home. Some are at the airport but some are too afraid to make their way there through Taliban-controlled streets. Some say they have tried and have been turned away at checkpoints.

There are also tens of thousands of Afghan nationals desperate to get out but who do not want to present themselves to the terrorists they worked against for years.

The only way anyone in Kabul can get to the airport is if the Taliban lets them through.

On Wednesday afternoon, the State Department updated its guidance to tell all remaining US citizens to make their way to the airport but it couldn't guarantee anyone's safety on the journey.

At a Pentagon press briefing a short time afterwards, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed troops would not go to collect anyone, saying: 'We don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people.'

At a separate press conference, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Ruth Helman insisted that she'd heard it was safe on the ground for Americans, and that the Taliban was holding up their end of the bargain.

She noted the thousands of Afghans who have made their way to the airport and said Americans should have no problem getting there.

'The Taliban made a commitment to safe passage for Americans... it appears the commitment has been solid. We have heard all of the stories that many journalists are reporting about checkpoints, harassment, difficulties, jammed traffic.

'We are trying to work through those issues but I will tell you this. In spite of the obstacles, many, many Afghans are finding their way to the airport,' she said.

The Taliban - which has promised 'amnesty' and that it won't interfere with any country trying to evacuate its people - has already abandoned its revamped image and is reverting to medieval punishment in the streets. Already there is evidence of people being beaten, shot and humiliated in the streets.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that troops on the ground don't have the 'capacity' to go and collect people around the country of Afghanistan. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Ruth Helman said it is safe for Americans to go to the airport in Kabul and that they should have no problem getting there since so many Afghans have managed it

Taliban fighters patrol in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. The group is becoming increasingly violent, abandoning promises to be peaceful, and their cooperation is what the evacuation mission is relying on