US troops should not be dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight: Joe Biden as Taliban takes over

Biden said that he stands 'squarely behind' his decision of withdrawing forces from Afghanistan and that he won't repeat the mistakes that America has made in the past — the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of the United States.

US President Joe Biden speaks about Afghanistan at the White House in Washington (Photo: Reuters)

New Delhi: Calling his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan a 'right one', President Joe Biden on Tuesday (August 17, 2021) said that American troops should not be dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. The US President's remarks came amid the Taliban further advancing in the war-torn country and capturing Kabul. 

In an address to the nation on the Afghanistan crisis, Biden said, "American troops cannot — and should not — be fighting and dying in a war that Afghan forces are by and large, not willing to fight and die in themselves."

He stated that the US troops had gone to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals -- to get those who attacked America on September 11, 2001, and to make sure that al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base to attack the country again.

"We did that—a decade ago. Our mission was never supposed to be nation-building," Biden added.

Stand squarely behind decision to withdraw US troops

Biden said that he stands 'squarely behind' his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. He said that after 20 years, he has learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.

"That's why we were still there. We were clear-eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency. But I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated," he said.

Afghanistan political leaders gave up 

Commenting on Afghanistan President Afghan Ghani fleeing the country as the Taliban insurgents knocked on Kabul's doors, Joe Biden said that Afghan political leaders gave up and fled the country. He added that the Afghan military collapsed, sometimes 'without trying to fight'.

"If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision," Biden added.

Mission in Afghanistan was not about nation-building

Joe Biden said that America's mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been 'nation building'.  "It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on the American homeland," he said.

The US President added that he has argued for many years that America's mission should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism and not counterinsurgency or nation-building.  

Terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan

The US President said that today the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan and said that al Shabaab in Somalia, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Nusra in Syria and ISIS are attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia.

"These threats warrant our attention and our resources," he said.

Biden stated that the US conducts effective counterterrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where they don't have a permanent military presence.

"If necessary, we will do the same in Afghanistan," he added. 

Will not repeat mistakes 

The US President said that he will not repeat the mistakes America has made in the past — the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of the United States, of doubling down on a civil war in a foreign country, of attempting to remake a country through the endless military deployments of US forces.

"Those are the mistakes we cannot continue to repeat because we have significant vital interests in the world that we cannot afford to ignore," Biden said.

He said that he is now the fourth American President to preside over the war in Afghanistan — two Democrats and two Republicans and that he will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth President.

"I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference.  Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here. I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me," Biden said.