For Joe Biden, leaving Afghanistan was "the best decision"
Joe Biden defended his decision to leave Afghanistan during a White House speech on Tuesday, August 31.
AP - Evan Vucci
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
During a speech at the White House, President Joe Biden defended on Tuesday his decision to end the American war in Afghanistan, despite strong criticism around the evacuation operations, chaotic and bereaved by a heavy attack.
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Criticized for ordering a hasty withdrawal, Joe Biden has no regrets.
The departure of the United States from Afghanistan
after 20 years of war was "
the best decision for America
", he affirmed, determined, during a solemn speech at the White House, less than 24 hours later. the take-off of the last American plane from Kabul.
For the Democratic president, the agreement made by his predecessor Donald Trump with the Taliban in 2020 had led to a "
very simple
"
choice
: either to respect the commitment made and leave the country, or to decide to stay and send back tens of thousands. soldiers in war.
“
The real choice was between starting or climbing.
I was not going to prolong this Eternal War and I was not going to prolong the Eternal Withdrawal,
”Joe Biden said.
►
To read also: United States: Joe Biden facing the Afghan failure
The Americans entered Afghanistan in 2001, at the head of an international coalition, to oust the Taliban from power because of their refusal to hand over the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, after the attacks of September 11, 2001. in the USA. "
We were a nation at war for too long,
" repeated the US president.
The tenant of the White House praised the "
extraordinary success
" of the evacuation mission of the Americans and their allies from Afghanistan. From August 14, the day before the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, US planes and their allies evacuated more than 123,000 civilians from Kabul airport over a period of 18 days, according to the Pentagon. “
No country has ever achieved anything comparable in all of history,
” he stressed.
These evacuations were mourned Thursday by an
attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Khorasan
(EI-K), which killed more than a hundred people including 13 American soldiers near the Kabul airport.
"
We are not done with you,
" warned Joe Biden in his speech, promising to lead "
a tough, ruthless, focused and precise strategy, which tracks terror where it is today, not where it was two decades ago
”.
The president also expressed his determination to allow the evacuation of the Americans remaining in Afghanistan.
Their number is estimated between 100 and 200.
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