I am president of the United States of America and the buck stops with me, President Joe Biden said in a much-awaited televised address from the White House as he defended the US pullout from Afghanistan. Standing by his statement that it was time to leave Afghanistan after 20 years of conflict, Biden said that their mission in the war-torn country was never supposed to be nation-building, and was only to prevent a terrorist attack on American homeland.
“Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building or to be creating a unified, centralised democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland,” Biden said as scenes of mayhem unfolded in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Here Are Top Quotes from His Speech:
• I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 yrs, I’ve learned hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces(from Afghanistan). We’re clear-eyed about risk, we plan for every contingency…. this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.
• We have made it clear to the Taliban if they attack our personnel or disrupt our operation, the US presence and response will be swift and forceful. We defend our people with devastating force if necessary.
• Our current military mission is focused on its objectives – get our people and our allies as safely & quickly as possible. And once we have completed this mission, we will conclude our military withdrawal.
• Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building or create a unified, centralised democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been preventing terrorist attack on American homeland” says US Pres Joe Biden
• We conduct effective counter-terrorism 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 counter-terrorism over the rise in capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the direct threats to the United States in the region, and act quickly and decisively if needed.
• Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building or to be creating a unified, centralised 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 counter-terrorism, not counter insurgency or nation-building.
• Today, the terrorist threat is metastasized, well beyond Afghanistan.
• My national security team & I have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan & moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency & contingency including the rapid collapse we are seeing now.
• We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals, get those who attacked us on September 11, 2001, and make sure Al-Qaeda can’t 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, which was a decade ago.
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