US President Joe
Biden says he stands by his decision to withdraw his country’s troops from
Afghanistan, in spite of the current developments.
Afghanistan has witnessed a gradual takeover of various
provincial cities — including Kabul, the country’s capital — by Taliban
fighters over the recent weeks, following the withdrawal of US forces.
As of Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan fled the
country, and based his decision on the need to “avoid bloodshed”.
“The Taliban have made it to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out. Taliban have won the judgement of sword and guns and now they are responsible for protecting the countrymen’s honor, wealth and self-esteem,” Ghani had said in a post on his Facebook page.
As many Afghans attempt to flee the country and the US is
currently evacuating its troops and other citizens, stakeholders have expressed
concern over what the future holds for the south Asian country, since Taliban
fighters have taken over.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Biden said his
government was aware of the risks associated with the withdrawal of US troops,
but maintained that he took the right decision.
According to him, there was no point allowing American
military forces die while fighting for the Afghan people, if the citizens of
the south Asian country are unwilling to defend themselves.
“I stand squarely
behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was
never a good time to withdraw US forces. That’s why we’re still there. We were
clear-eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency, but I always
promised the American people that I would be straight with you,” he said.
“The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had
anticipated. So, what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and
fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed sometime without trying to
fight. If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that any US
military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.
“American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war
and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”
According to the Biden, the US provided all the necessary
resources for the Afghan military force to take its stand, adding that the
south Asian country needs to decide what it wants for itself.
“We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped
an Afghan military force with some 300,000 strong and credibly well-equipped —
a force larger in size than many of our military’s NATO allies,” he said.
“We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their
salaries, provided for the maintenance of their force — something the Taliban
doesn’t have. We provided close air support. We gave them every chance to
determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to
fight for that future.”
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