President Joe Biden affirmed on Tuesday that he would not immediately extend an Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan.

In making the decision, the president agreed with a Pentagon recommendation to stick to the deadline.

In a Tuesday afternoon address, Biden said that 70,700 people had been evacuated from the country since Aug. 14 and that the U.S. was on pace to “finish” evacuations on his timeline, though he didn’t specify whom those evacuations would include. Biden said he’d asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to provide a “detailed report” on Wednesday, outlining how many Americans have been evacuated and how many still remain in Afghanistan.

“The completion by Aug. 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those who we’re transporting out and no disruptions to our operations,” he said.

Biden made the decision not to extend the deadline amid harsh criticism from lawmakers and U.S. allies, who criticized the administration‘s handling of the withdrawal and ongoing execution of the evacuation effort underway at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.