Emphasizing that the evacuation operation from Afghanistan was "an extraordinary success," Biden rejected criticism of his decision to stick with the August 31st withdrawal deadline, adding that his choice was between leaving and escalating.

"A special relationship" — a term coined after the Second World War by the then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe his country’s close bilateral ties with former colony the US, from economic to cultural, to the military. Decades later, that supposed strong bond seems to exist in all but name.

Despite US claims that they have been training and strengthening the country's military and administration during the last decade or so, it took about a fortnight for the Taliban to regain control of the whole of Afghanistan.

One Afghan guard was killed and three were wounded in a firefight at the airport's north gate on Monday, which also involved US and German forces.