NEWS DESK
President Joe Biden on Monday said he stands by his decision to pull American troops out of Afghanistan and said the Taliban’s swift seizure of Kabul unfolded “more quickly than we anticipated.”
We cannot fight a war that the Afghan forces and leadership does not have the will to fight, whom we fully equipped and trained for 20 years, at the cost of the lives of our soldiers, Biden said.
Speaking about the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, Biden said that he faced a choice between an agreement to withdraw U.S. forces or send thousands more U.S. troops back in for a “third decade” of war. Biden said he will not repeat the mistakes of the past.
He spoke after the planned withdrawal of American forces turned deadly at Kabul’s airport as thousands tried to flee following the Taliban’s swift takeover of the government.
He spoke after the planned withdrawal of American forces turned deadly at Kabul’s airport as thousands tried to flee following the Taliban’s swift takeover of the government.
Biden returned to the White House Monday afternoon from the Camp David presidential retreat ahead of his planned speech at 3:45 p.m. from the East Room. It was his first public remarks on the Afghanistan situation in nearly a week. Biden and other top U.S. officials had been stunned by the pace of the Taliban’s swift routing of the Afghan military.