Joe Biden: US troops should not die in a war that Afghans are not ready to fight.


The Democratic president defended the decision to withdraw the US forces and clarified that the objective of the United States in the Asian country was never to build a nation but to end the threat of Al Qaeda.

Joe Biden said Monday that the goal in Afghanistan was never to build a democratic nation but to end the terrorist threat from Al Qaeda. In addition, the Democratic president ratified that the longest war in US history is finished with his decision.

We will remove our people and our allies as soon as possible, and once that is done, we will end America's most significant war. These incidents are proof that the military presence in Afghanistan does not matter. Our mission made many mistakes in Afghanistan. I will not mislead Americans by saying that one more time in Afghanistan will make a difference, "said the Democratic president.

The US president admitted that the Afghan government fell faster than expected and highlighted US military support. "I always promised the American people that I would be honest with you. The truth is that this developed faster than we had anticipated, "Biden said in a message to the nation.

"We gave them every opportunity to determine their future. We could not give them the will to fight for that future, "he added from the White House, highlighting:" If Afghanistan is not able to resist the Taliban, US troops cannot make a difference. "

The president of Biden also stressed: "American troops cannot and should not fight in a war and die in a war, that the Afghan forces are not willing to fight by themselves ."

"The mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be to build a nation. Our only major national interest in Afghanistan today is the same that has always been to prevent a terrorist attack on the American homeland, "said Biden; he added that the goal remains today and will always be to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil.

The president promised to prioritize the treatment of women and girls under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

"We will continue to speak out for the basic rights of the Afghan people, women, and girls," Biden said in a national address.

Biden defended the withdrawal despite the swift takeover, saying it was time to leave the country after two decades of conflict.

"I strongly support my decision. Unfortunately, 20 years later, I've learned with difficulty that the withdrawal of US troops has never been a good time," he said in a televised address to the White House.

In addition, he warned the Taliban not to interrupt or threaten the evacuation of thousands of US diplomats and Afghan translators at the Kabul airport.

Biden said the response to any attack would be swift and forceful. If need be, we will defend our people with destructive force.

Faced with disastrous images of chaos at the Kabul airport and the Taliban patrolling the streets of the Afghan capital, the US president finally addressed the nation on Afghanistan on Monday.

A spokesperson said senior national security officials briefed Biden on the situation at the Kabul airport and "ongoing efforts to safely evacuate US citizens, US embassy personnel, and local personnel (... ) and other vulnerable Afghans".

The Democratic president, silent for several days in the face of the most severe crisis since his election in November, returned to Washington in the early afternoon after shortening his vacation at Camp David, the resting residence of US presidents.

He was scheduled to remain there until Wednesday. Still, the plan became untenable for the commander-in-chief of the US military in the face of the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

All the US media, including those who had greeted his election with relief last November, speak of "disaster" (CNN) or a Biden "on the defensive" (Washington Post).

The New York Times says that whether it is fair or unfair, history will remember Joe Biden presiding over the humiliating outcome of the US experiment in Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

Faced with a wave of criticism never seen since the election, Biden's White House, that well-oiled machine, looks paralyzed.

This is demonstrated by the tweets broadcast over the weekend. The United States follows the fall of Kabul hour by hour, and the image of helicopters leaving the embassy recalls the latest images of the Vietnam War.

In a snapshot broadcast Sunday on Twitter, 78-year-old Biden appeared in a blue polo shirt, alone at a vast Camp David meeting table in front of a video conference screen and wall clocks set to different time zones, receiving "updates" On Afghanistan from senior officials.

During his last public address on Afghanistan last Tuesday, Biden repeatedly defended his decision to withdraw the last American soldiers by August 31, entrusting the country's fate to a now defeated Afghan government and soldiers.

On Thursday and Friday, as the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan with astonishing speed, the White House's priority remained to praise the "Biden plan" that was supposed to rebuild the US economy on a more just basis.

And on Saturday, it was in a statement that Biden announced that he would bring about 5,000 soldiers to the military deployment in Kabul to ensure the evacuation of civilians. Then he would tell another thousand more.

But his presidency, rather tightly controlled and with promises to pursue "boring" economic and social reforms, has indeed been shaken in Biden's own words.

The Republican opposition has so far remained silent because US public opinion favored the withdrawal of the military, criticizing the Democratic administration for viewing it as a humiliation of the US military.

However, Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan is almost entirely based on a plan put forward by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who ordered talks with the Taliban and, if re-elected, has already paved the way. Since May 1, 2021, the former president has not criticized his successor.

Now is the time for Biden, who has been slandered, to resign in order to allow what happened in Afghanistan, a demand made to Trump on Sunday Multiplied

He said the crisis in Afghanistan, including the evacuation, would have been attributed to the "corrupt 2020 presidential election" if the Trump administration had been in charge.

But the White House insists that the chaos in Kabul is the best of all harmful alternatives available because at least it stops an unwinnable war.

"What the president was not prepared to do was enter the third decade of conflict, bringing in thousands of more troops, which was his only other option," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC.