WASHINGTON – With the stunning collapse of Afghanistan’s government, both in scale and speed, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke to the American people on how he is handling the chaos in that nation.
Here now are remarks Biden made on Aug. 16, 2021:
“Good afternoon. I want to speak today to the unfolding situation in Afghanistan: the developments that have taken place in the last week and the steps we’re taking to address the rapidly evolving events.
“My national security team and I have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency, including – and contingency – including the rapid collapse we’re seeing now.
“I’ll speak more in a moment about the specific steps we’re taking, but I want to remind everyone how we got here and what America’s interests are in Afghanistan.
“We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, and make sure al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again.
“We did that. We severely degraded al Qaeda in Afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and we got him. That was a decade ago.
“Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland.
“I’ve argued for many years that our mission should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism – not counterinsurgency or nation building. That’s why I opposed the surge when it was proposed in 2009 when I was Vice President.
“And that’s why, as President, I am adamant that we focus on the threats we face today in 2021 – not yesterday’s threats.
“Today, the terrorist threat has metastasized well beyond Afghanistan: al Shabaab in Somalia, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. These threats warrant our attention and our resources.
“We conduct effective counterterrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where we don’t have a permanent military presence.
“If necessary, we will do the same in Afghanistan. We’ve developed counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region and to act quickly and decisively if needed.
“When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 – just a little over three months after I took office.
“U.S. forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in country, and the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001.
“The choice I had to make, as your President, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season.
“There would have been no ceasefire after May 1. There was no agreement protecting our forces after May 1. There was no status quo of stability without American casualties after May 1.
“There was only the cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict.
“I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That’s why we were 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. The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.
“So what’s 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 U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.
“American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and 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.
“We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force – something the Taliban doesn’t have. Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support.
“We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future…
“…Now, let me lay out the current mission in Afghanistan. I was asked to authorize – and I did – 6,000 U.S. troops to deploy to Afghanistan for the purpose of assisting in the departure of U.S. and Allied civilian personnel from Afghanistan, and to evacuate our Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans to safety outside of Afghanistan.
“Our troops are working to secure the airfield and to ensure continued operation of both the civilian and military flights. We’re taking over air traffic control. We have safely shut down our embassy and transferred our diplomats. Our diplomatic presence is now consolidated at the airport as well.
“Over the coming days, we intend to transport out thousands of American citizens who have been living and working in Afghanistan. We’ll also continue to support the safe departure of civilian personnel – the civilian personnel of our Allies who are still serving in Afghanistan.
“Operation Allies Refuge, which I announced back in July, has already moved 2,000 Afghans who are eligible for Special Immigration Visas and their families to the United States.
“In the coming days, the U.S. military will provide assistance to move more SIV-eligible Afghans and their families out of Afghanistan…
“…I’m now the fourth American President to preside over war in Afghanistan – two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth President.
“I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference. Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here.
“I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me…
“…I know my decision will be criticized, but I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another President of the United States – yet another one – a fifth one.
“Because it’s the right one – it’s the right decision for our people. The right one for our brave service members who have risked their lives serving our nation. And it’s the right one for America.
“So, thank you. May God protect our troops, our diplomats, and all of the brave Americans serving in harm’s way.”
