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“We completed one of the largest airlifts in history,” he said.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that in the face of sharp criticism caused by the turbulent withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, this is the best choice to end the United States’ longest war and decades of futile efforts to transform other countries through military power.
Biden described the chaotic exit as a logistical success. Even if it started a few weeks ago, it would be equally chaotic, and staying in the country would require more American troops.
Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. airlift of more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan an “extraordinary success,” the day after the last U.S. soldiers evacuated from Afghanistan.
“We completed one of the largest airlifts in history,” Biden said.
“No country in history has done such a thing; only the United States has the ability, willingness and ability to do it,” he said.
“I am not going to extend this eternal war,” he said in a speech at the White House.
Earlier in the day, the Taliban, who controlled Afghanistan by lightning this month, shot into the air and paraded coffins with flags of the United States and NATO in celebration of victory.
In his first speech after the last withdrawal on Monday, Biden stated that 5,500 Americans have been evacuated and that the United States has influence over the Taliban to ensure that 100 to 200 people can also leave if they wish.
He said Washington will continue to target militants who pose a threat to the United States, but will not use its military to build a democratic society in places where it has never been before.
“This decision on Afghanistan is not only about Afghanistan. It is to end an era of major military operations that reshape other countries,” he said.
The Taliban now control more territory than they did during their last reign before being expelled at the beginning of the longest U.S. war in 2001, which claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans at a cost of approximately 2 Trillions of dollars.
In the past two weeks, the United States and its allies have evacuated more than 123,000 people from Kabul through large-scale but chaotic airlifts, but many people who helped Western countries during the war have been left behind.
Biden said the only other option is to intensify the fighting and continue a war that “should end long ago.” He said that, as some people have suggested, starting a withdrawal in June or July will only accelerate the Taliban’s victory.
But Biden’s decision was far from popular, and he faced criticism from his Republican and Democratic colleagues and foreign allies.
The Republican leader of the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, said that this resignation has left Americans behind enemy lines.
He said in his hometown of Kentucky: “Because of this self-inflicted wound, our safety is reduced.”
Excitement and fear
Following the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, the United States invaded in 2001, preventing Al Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base to attack the United States and ending the 1996 Taliban period.
When the Taliban celebrated their victory, the streets of Afghanistan were filled with a mixture of victory, elation and fear.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said: “We are proud of these moments. We liberated our country from a great power.”
Since the fall of the capital, there have been long lines outside the Kabul Bank.
Biden has stated that the world will require them to abide by their recent pledges to uphold human rights and allow safe passage for those who want to leave Afghanistan.
Western donors say that future assistance to countries ravaged by war and drought will depend on the fulfillment of these promises.
Fearing that as many as 500,000 Afghans may have fled their homes by the end of this year, EU countries have proposed to strengthen assistance to Afghanistan and its neighbors.
A Treasury official told Reuters that the United States issued a license last week authorizing it and its partners to continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, even if the Taliban were blacklisted by Washington.
Although the United States imposes sanctions on the Taliban, the license authorizes the U.S. government and its contractors to support the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, including the delivery of food and medicine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the United States is worried about the possibility of Taliban retaliation and noted the threat posed by Daesh-K. Daesh-K’s affiliates claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing outside Kabul Airport on Thursday. The explosion killed 13 American soldiers and dozens of others. Afghan civilians.
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