resident Joe Biden When he addressed the nation on Monday about the disastrous U.S. evacuation, he was provocative. Afghanistan.
Biden returns Washington Speaking from the East Room of the Camp David Presidential Retreat.
He said: “I will not repeat the same mistakes” and added that the mission of the United States has never been “national building” but to prevent terrorist attacks on American territory.
Biden said in a televised speech: “The U.S. army cannot and should not fight and die in a war where the Afghan army is unwilling to fight for itself.
“We spent more than one trillion dollars. We trained and equipped the Afghan army of approximately 300,000 men. Incredibly well-equipped. A force stronger than the armies of some of our NATO allies.
“We provided them with all the tools they might need. We paid their salaries to maintain their air force, which the Taliban did not have. We provided close air support. We gave them every opportunity to decide on themselves. the future of.
“We cannot provide them with the will to fight for that future.
“If Afghanistan cannot launch any real resistance to the Taliban now, then in one, five or twenty years, the U.S. military boots on the ground will not have any impact.
“This is my core belief.
“It is wrong to order the U.S. military to come forward when Afghanistan’s own armed forces are unwilling.”
This is his first public speech on the situation in Afghanistan in the past week.
Biden and other senior officials were shocked by the rapid pace of the Taliban’s attack on the Afghan army.
Biden said that the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan has “distressed” American veterans who have fought in Afghanistan for the past 20 years.
At the airport in Kabul on Monday, at least seven people died as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban took over.
Some people died on a U.S. military transport plane about to take off.
The Pentagon confirmed that the US military shot and killed two people who were alleged to have weapons.
Biden ordered another battalion of about 1,000 soldiers to protect the airport, which has been closed for several hours and is prohibited from entering and exiting.
The speed of the collapse of the Afghan government and the ensuing chaos posed the most severe test for Biden as commander-in-chief.
He was severely criticized by Republicans, who said he had failed.
Chaos at Kabul Airport
/ Associated PressBiden participated in the campaign as an experienced international relations expert and has been playing down the prospect of the rise of the Taliban for months.
He believes that Americans of all political factions are tired of 20 years of war.
At the same time, another 200 British troops will be sent to Kabul to evacuate British citizens and local allies from Afghanistan.
Foreign Secretary Dominique Raab stated that he would not rule out sanctions if the Taliban did not fulfill their human rights commitments.
This brings the total number of troops dispatched to the capital to respond to the crisis urgently to about 900.
Mr. Raab called tonight for international coordination to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorist organizations, and for a broader approach to alleviate the plight of the Afghan people.
According to a senior White House official, Biden stayed at Camp David over the weekend to regularly listen to briefings about Afghanistan and hold secure video conference calls with members of his national security team.
His government only released a separate photo of the president in the conference room where it met with military, diplomatic and intelligence experts on Sunday.
Biden heard a briefing from his national security team again on Monday, and then returned to Washington.
He is the fourth American president to face challenges in Afghanistan and insists that he will not hand over the longest war in the United States to his successor.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump were also eager to leave Afghanistan, but eventually flinched in the face of resistance from military leaders and other political issues.
