US President Joe Biden has again blamed the former Afghan government and the country's security forces for the Taliban's takeover. Contrary to expectations, the Afghan security forces were not a strong opponent in the fight against the Taliban, Biden said in the White House on Tuesday. The Afghan government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. They would have "handed over the country to their enemies, the Taliban". This increased the risk for the US armed forces and their allies.

On the other hand, Biden did not admit his own mistakes when the US soldiers withdrew. The troop withdrawal by August 31 was not due to an "arbitrary period," said Biden. "It was designed to save American lives." His predecessor Donald Trump had signed an agreement with the Taliban and promised the withdrawal of US troops. He himself had the choice of sticking to it or sending tens of thousands more US soldiers to Afghanistan and continuing the mission. The US alone would have had the choice of either leaving the country or escalating the conflict. Biden emphasized that he did not want to prolong the war forever. And he didn't want to extend the trigger forever. "It was time to end this war."

Biden, on the other hand, stressed that Americans must learn from past mistakes. “Our strategy must also change.” He was referring to the new changes in the world, above all the competition with China. According to Biden, the US can do both, hunt down terrorists and compete with the new big economies like China.

According to his statement, the USA will therefore continue to take action against the local branch of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) after it has withdrawn from Afghanistan.

He warned the group that claimed responsibility for the recent attack at Kabul airport that the US would continue to pursue them.

"We're not done with you yet," said Biden.

The fight against terrorism continues even after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, albeit without ground troops.

The US would hunt and capture terrorists attacking the country "to the end of the world," said Biden.

"We will not forgive, we will not forget."

The rescue mission was a complete success

Biden also pointed out that the mission in Afghanistan was simply not successful.

In the future one should only tackle missions with clearly achievable goals.

With the withdrawal of the last US soldiers from Kabul airport on Tuesday night, the international mission in Afghanistan came to an end after almost 20 years. Biden announced in July that all US troops would be withdrawn by August 31. Now he said: “My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is over now.” After the announcement of the withdrawal, the Taliban's triumphant advance had accelerated rapidly. In mid-August, the Islamists, whose regime the US-led operation had overthrown in late 2001, took power again.

Since then, the US and its allies have tried feverishly to fly their own citizens and Afghan employees out of the country. The rescue of numerous Americans and their helpers on site also ended on Tuesday night. Biden emphasized that this was an extraordinary success. Ninety percent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave the country were able to do so, Biden said in his first public remarks since the withdrawal was closed on Monday. “We have completed one of the largest airlifts in history.” No country has ever achieved anything like it. It is assumed that 100 to 200 US citizens are still in Afghanistan.