The president of the United States of America, Joe Biden, spoke about the situation in Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 8, 2021, and said that their mission in Afghanistan will end by August 31.
Mr Biden said the U.S. had achieved what it had gone into Afghanistan to do, including preventing it from becoming a base from which the U.S. could be attacked.
“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future, and how they want to run their country,” he said.
“And in this context, speed is safety,” he said, adding that no U.S. or allied forces had been lost in the drawdown.
The American troops left Bagram Airfield last week, which happens to be their largest base in Afghanistan. As per reports, the troops left in the dead of night, without informing the Afghans, the new commander of the base said.
In the context of the people who had worked with the U.S. side in Afghanistan, such as the drivers and the translators and their families, Mr Biden said, “There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose. And we will stand with you, just as you stood with us.”
“To be clear, countries in the region have an essential role to play in supporting a peaceful settlement, we’ll work with them, and they should help step up their efforts as well,” he said, further.
Biden was asked if a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was inevitable, to which he responded in the negative. He pointed to the relative strength of the Afghan forces in terms of troop numbers, training and equipment.
The president of the United States also denied that the U.S. intelligence community had told him that the Afghan government would collapse. “That is not true. They did not reach that conclusion,” he said.
Since the reports of the intelligence agencies claiming that the Afghan government would collapse within 6 months had been spiralling around, Biden was asked what level of confidence the intelligence community has that the Afghan government would not collapse.
To which, Mr Biden said Afghan leaders have the capacity, the forces and the equipment but whether they could generate the cohesion to govern remained in question.
“The question is will they do it? I want to make clear what I made clear to (Afghan President Ashraf Ghani), that we are not going to walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain that force. We’re gonna also work to make sure we help them in terms of everything from food necessities and other things in the region,” Mr Biden said.
He also added that his own conclusion was that peace could be achieved only if the Afghan government finds a modus vivendi with the Taliban.
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“And the likelihood there’s going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely,” he said.