WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Tuesday defended his decision to end the war in Afghanistan and the evacuation operations saying forcefully in remarks from the White House that he was not going to “extend the forever war, and I was not extending the forever exit”.
The US President also called the operation that airlifted 120,000 of Americans, allies and Afghan partners an “extraordinary success”.
Biden also defended the exit date of August 31, saying it was not fixed arbitrarily and that it was designed to save lives.
The last American military aircraft involved in the evacuation left the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at 11:59 pm local time, with Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the US Army 82nd Airborne Division, the last US personnel to leave Afghan soil.
It marked the conclusion of the US’ military mission in Afghanistan, ending its longest war and bringing down the curtain on a 20-year-old sketchy campaign that ended with a frantic last-minute rush of evacuations and a suicide bombing that killed 13 Americans and 170 Afghans.
“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” Biden said, adding, “I take responsibility for the decision.”
The US President reiterated that the decision to end the military operations at Kabul airport was based on “unanimous recommendation” of his civilian and military advisors, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all the service chiefs.
Calling the evacuation an “extraordinary success” the US President said no country has done anything like this ever. “No country in history has done more to airlift out the residents of another country, as we have done,” he said.
To those who have argued the evacuation should have started earlier and in a more orderly manner, he said, “I respectfully disagree.” There would still have been a crush as the airport and a breakdown in confidence in the government would have followed, it “still would have been very difficult and dangerous mission”.
Biden said when he decided in April to end the Afghanistan war, the assumption was that the Afghan military that had been trained and equipped by the United States would put up a fight and there. “That assumption that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown turned out not to be accurate,” he said.
