US troops can’t be dying in war that Afghans are not willing to fight: Biden

Even as heartbreaking images of people crying for help and desperately clinging on to an aircraft at Kabul airport splashed across websites and social media platforms on Monday (August 16), US President Joe Biden stressed that he stands “squarely behind his decision” to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan while blaming the Afghan leadership for giving in to the Taliban without any fight.

Biden, on his part, described the images coming out of Afghanistan as “gut-wrenching”.

“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 will be straight with you,” Biden said amid wide criticism against his government for its withdrawal of troops that has left Afghan people at the brutal hands of the Taliban.

“The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So, what happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. 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,” the US president said.

Biden said American troops cannot be dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. “We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong. Incredibly well equipped. A force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies,” he said. “We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force, something the Taliban doesn’t have. The Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for that future,” Biden said.

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The US president said despite his country giving the Afghans every possible aid and tool, they have been unable to put up a strong resistance against the Taliban.

“There are some very brave and capable Afghan special forces units and soldiers. But if Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years, or 20 more years of US military boots on the ground would have made any difference,” he said.

“And here’s what I believe to my core. It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not. The political leaders of Afghanistan were unable to come together for the good of their people, unable to negotiate for the future of their country when the chips were down,” he added.

Recalling his meeting with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and chairman Abdullah at the White House in June and telephonic conversations in July, Biden said, “We talked about how Afghanistan should prepare to fight its civil wars after the US military departed, to clean up the corruption in government so the government could function for the Afghan people.”

“We talked extensively about the need for Afghan leaders to unite politically. They failed to do any of that. I also urged them to engage in diplomacy, to seek a political settlement with the Taliban. This advice was flatly refused. Ghani insisted that the Afghan forces would fight. But obviously, he was wrong,” he said.

Biden was confident that the US will not repeat mistakes it made in the past – the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of America, 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,” he said.

“I also want to acknowledge how painful this is to so many of us. The scenes were seeing in Afghanistan, they’re gut-wrenching, particularly for our veterans, our diplomats, humanitarian workers, for anyone who has spent time on the ground, working to support the Afghan people, for those who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan, and for Americans who have fought and served in the country, serve our country in Afghanistan,” he said.

US to send 6,000 more troops to Kabul for evacuation

In the midst of the turmoil, the US has stepped up its security and plans to deploy 6,000 troops at Kabul airport to ensure the safe departure of American citizens and its allies from Afghanistan.

After Taliban insurgents swept into Kabul on Sunday leading to the fall of the Ghani government, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a series of calls to his counterparts of US key allies. India was not among them. Simultaneously, more than 60 countries led by the US and the European Union issued a joint statement, urging those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to bear responsibility and accountability for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order.

The US said that at present it is trying to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.

With the Taliban having taken over all border posts, the Kabul international airport, which is currently closed to all commercial flights, is the only exit point for people leaving Afghanistan.

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The US in a statement said that from Tuesday and over the coming days, it will transfer thousands of American citizens who have been living in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other vulnerable Afghan nationals out of the country.

“We will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for US Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks. For all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those yet to be screened,” the statement said.

(With inputs from agencies)