US President Joe Biden described the first year of his presidency as full of major challenges, reviewing in a speech marking the one-year anniversary of his assumption of office the most important files his administration has faced since entering the White House.
In his speech, Biden addressed the crisis in Ukraine, the escalation with Russia, the file of the war in Yemen, the nuclear negotiations with Iran, in addition to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the latest developments in the Corona epidemic file.
The crisis with Russia
The US president devoted part of his speech to talking about the crisis with Russia, and expressed his belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin would invade Ukraine, but warned that Moscow would incur heavy human losses and pay a heavy economic price.
Biden said that it would be disastrous if Russia penetrated into Ukrainian territory, noting that the response of the United States and the West could be determined based on what Russia did, and considered that holding a summit with Putin was still "possible."
He went on to say that "Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It would be different if it was a limited incursion, but if they really did what they could do ... it would be a disaster for Russia if it invaded Ukraine again."
The US president and his team are preparing a wide range of sanctions and other economic consequences to impose on Moscow if it invades its neighbour.
Russia is massing tens of thousands of soldiers on Ukraine's border, and has demanded that NATO provide guarantees that it will halt its eastward expansion.
Yemen war and the nuclear file
Speaking about the war in Yemen, Biden said that ending the war in this country requires the participation of all parties to the conflict, but he returned and described the matter as "it will be very difficult."
The US President indicated that the UAE's request to re-list the Ansar Allah Al Houthi group in the terrorist list is under study, in response to the group's recent attacks on vital facilities in the UAE.
On the Iranian nuclear file, Biden said that progress is being made in talks with Iran, stressing that this is not the time for surrender with regard to a diplomatic solution.
He added that there is consensus among the group of countries negotiating alongside the United States with Tehran, and said that they all "read on the same page, but no one knows what things will lead to."
Withdrawal from Afghanistan
And the US president defended the withdrawal of his country's forces from Afghanistan, saying that it was "the graveyard of empires, and it is not unitable, and no one can unite them under one government."
Biden considered that "a peaceful solution cannot be found" in Afghanistan, citing weekly spending of nearly $1 billion to maintain US forces there.
He questioned the feasibility of continuing with this spending, knowing that "the idea of being able to succeed is quite extraordinary, not to mention sending more body bags home."
He said there was no easy way out of Afghanistan after 20 years, and he would not apologize for what he did.
Regarding the Corona pandemic, the US President said that it had caused many negative repercussions on the economy, including high prices, explaining that he had presented a plan to support the economy in the country and seek to reduce the deficit in the American economy.