President Biden Forcefully Defends American Withdrawal From Afghanistan: The “Endless War” is Over

By Yehudit Garmaise

     In defending the end of the US’s 20-year engagement in Afghanistan, President Biden, perhaps for the first time, laid out his vision of how he envisions his role as the commander-in-chief.

     “The fundamental obligation of a president is to defend and protect America: not to protect against enemies of 2001, but against those of 2021 and tomorrow,” President Biden said. “That is the guiding principle behind my thinking about Afghanistan."

     But the president also said that he did not have any choice, but to evacuate: given the deal the former President Donald Trump made with the Taliban for US troops to leave by May 1, a date that Biden postponed until just more than two weeks ago.

     Biden, who said he had to decide between evacuating or further escalating the war, said that he does not believe the safety and the security of Americans comes from continuing to spend $150 to $300 million a day and putting at risk the lives of America’s sons and daughters.

      “The world has changed, said Biden, as he described how the sources of terrorism's threats have spread out over the globe. “Our strategy has to change too. We don’t have to fight ground wars anymore,” referring to drones that often also kill innocent bystanders, such a child who was killed in Afghanistan by an American drone last week.

     “We have over-the-horizon capabilities,” said the president, who added that the US will continue to support the Afghan people through diplomacy, international influence, and humanitarian aid. “We can strike targets without boots on the ground. We struck ISIS-K remotely.

     “To anyone who gets the wrong idea, let me say it clearly: To those who wish America harm, to those who engage in terrorism against us or our allies, know this: the United States will never rest.

     “We will not forgive, and we will not forget. We will hunt you down to the ends of the earth, and you will pay the ultimate price.”

      At the same time, Biden said that “Human rights will be the center of our foreign policy, but not through endless military deployments, but through diplomacy, economic tools, and rallying the rest of the world for support.”

     Biden forcefully explained his decision, in which he said, “he believed in all his heart” to end the US’s 20-year military engagement in Afghanistan: a war that he said many times, “went on way too long.”

    In fact, Biden even announced the end of the era of large-scale military deployments to other countries to help with "nation-building," which after 20 years, collapsed in 11 days in Afghanistan. 

     “Let me be clear leaving Aug 31 was not due to an arbitrary deadline,” President Biden said. “It was designed to save American lives.

     “I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extend a forever exit.”

      Seemingly refuting those who said that Biden ignored intelligence reports and military advice about Afghanistan, the president said that his decision to end the 20-year engagement in Afghanistan was “based on the unanimous recommendation of my civilian and military advisors.

     “In the 17 days we operated in Kabul, after the Taliban seized power, we engaged in an around-the-clock effort to provide every American the opportunity to leave,” said Biden, who said that the State Department was working 24/7, contacting, talking, and in some cases walking Americans into the airport.”

     More than tens of thousands of Americans and 100,000 Afghans have been airlifted out, said Biden, who thanked the Americans who have offered to host Afghanis who are arriving in the US. “For those who remain, we will make arrangement to get them out, if they so choose.”

     

(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)