Daily US Times: US President Joe Biden acknowledged that Taliban takeover of Afghanistan unfolded faster than anticipated, but he defended his decision to withdraw American troops. Mr Biden said this in a press conference about the crisis in Afghanistan.
Biden said: “I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past — the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interests of the United States, 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.”
While bearing responsibility for the situation in Afghanistan, Biden declared “I am president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me.”
He also faulted Afghan forces for the Taliban’s rapid advance.
“We gave them every chance to determine their own future. (What) we couldn’t provide them was the will to fight for that future.”
The President continued: “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 more year, five more years or 20 more years of US military boots on the ground would have made any difference.”
Biden also blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for the current situation in Afghanistan, claiming an agreement the former President cut with the Taliban while he was in office left him with only two options: End the US military mission or reignite the conflict.
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