youPresident Joe Biden The Taliban once threatened that if the US military was attacked, it would adopt a “swift and powerful” military response. Biden said at the White House on Monday afternoon (local time) that this applies to any actions taken by the Taliban in Afghanistan that might endanger American personnel or their mission. “If necessary, we will protect our people with destructive power,” he promised.
At the same time, the President of the United States vehemently defended his decision to withdraw troops from the crisis country. Biden said that he insisted on his decision. He argued that it would not matter if the US military stayed longer in Afghanistan, and once again accused the Afghan security forces of lacking combat readiness. However, Biden admitted that the United States underestimated the speed of the Taliban: “This is developing faster than we expected.”
In the past few weeks, after the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban occupied almost all the capital cities of the country at an extremely fast speed-many provincial capitals did not fight. They also entered Kabul on Sunday. No fights. The lightning progress has surprised many observers, experts and the US government.
On paper, the Taliban are inferior to the Afghan armed forces. It is estimated that approximately 300,000 police and military personnel face approximately 60,000 well-equipped Taliban fighters. However, these people benefited from the cruel reputation they gained through public executions or whippings during their rule in the 1990s.
Biden said that the Afghan army has collapsed, “partly because it did not try to fight.” The United States trains and equips Afghan security forces. But the United States cannot give them the will to fight for the future. Last week, Biden complained that the Afghan security forces lacked the will to fight.
Biden’s speech on Monday was his first public statement since the radical Islamist Taliban actually took power in Afghanistan and the capital, Kabul. The President of the United States emphasized that the original intention of the United States in its operations in Afghanistan, that is, the original intention of eradicating the terrorist organization “Al Qaeda” after the September 11, 2001 attack has already been realized. Even if there is no permanent military presence in the target country, the United States can effectively combat Islamic terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. The US military has demonstrated this in other countries such as Somalia or Yemen. If necessary, this can also be done in Afghanistan in the future.
The Taliban once provided shelter for Al-Qaeda fighters and the then leader of the terrorist organization Osama bin Laden. On September 11, 2001, a terrorist organization launched an attack in the United States, triggering a military operation in Afghanistan led by the United States, which overthrew the Taliban that had previously ruled the country. Bin Laden himself was shot dead in a US special forces operation in Pakistan in May 2011.
