President Biden said Wednesday that sticking to his decision to withdraw US troops was a ‘simple choice’ Afghanistan, even if there is anarchy spread throughout the country and Taliban Emphasize control.
The President again blamed the Afghan security forces for the astonishingly rapid fall of Kabul.
‘When you look at what happened last week, was it a failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment?’ ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked the president in a sit-down interview.
‘Look, it was a simple choice, George,’ Biden said. ‘When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get on a plane and take off and go to another country; When you saw the significant collapse of Afghan soldiers, 300,000 of those we trained, just leaving their equipment and flying – that is, you know, I’m not, that’s what happened. That’s just what happened.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country on Sunday – reportedly with $169 million in cash – as the Taliban encroached upon Kabul. Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was ‘consulting’ to return to Afghanistan and had only fled to avoid further bloodshed.
‘And so the question was, in the beginning, there was a question of limits, are we committed to leaving within the time frame we set, do we extend it to September 1 or do we put in significantly more troops?’ Biden said.
With the fall of Kabul amidst renewed scrutiny of his strategy for his return to Afghanistan, it was the first time the president took any questioning from the press.
He gave a speech in Afghanistan on Monday, but did not take any questions. He commented again on Wednesday, where he focused on the COVID-19 cases and did not address the situation in the Middle East.
In an ABC interview, Biden insisted the exit couldn’t have been handled better, adding that he doesn’t know how to get out without the chaos.
‘So you don’t think it could have been handled – this exit could have been handled better somehow, no mistake?’ Stephanopoulos inquired.
‘No, I don’t think it could have been handled that way, let’s look back and see – but the idea that there is, somehow, a way out without chaos, I don’t know how’ Is. I don’t know how it happened,’ Biden replied.
Biden was pleasantly surprised that the Taliban were allowing the US to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan without issue, but said his administration was having “more difficulty” in evacuating Afghans who helped US forces and now have their backs. But the Taliban are targets.
‘One of the things we didn’t know about is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to stop people from moving out. What will they do? What are they doing now?
‘They’re cooperating, letting American citizens out, letting American personnel out, embassies going out, etcetera, but they’re doing — we’re going to have some more difficulty for those people. who helped us when we were there,’ the president said.
Biden noted that the violent conflict in Afghanistan was halted in recent months by a peace deal signed under President Trump that promised a US withdrawal.
‘I had an easy choice. If I said, ‘We’re gonna stay,’ we’d better be prepared to pile on a lot more troops,’ he concluded.
‘I had an easy choice. If I said, ‘We’re gonna stay,’ we’d better be prepared to pile on a lot more troops,’ Biden said, noting that he was bound by Trump’s February 2020 peace deal.
‘So you don’t think it could have been handled – this exit could have been handled better somehow, no mistake?’ ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Asks the President
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country on Sunday – reportedly with $169 million in cash – as the Taliban encroached upon Kabul. Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was ‘consulting’ to return to Afghanistan and had only fled to avoid further bloodshed.
At one point the president became enraged as ABC News anchors pressed him over heart-wrenching scenes from Hamid Karzai airport, where Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban regime as they descended the runway.
Biden said, ‘It was four days ago, five days ago.
‘What did you think when you first saw those pictures?’ Stephanopoulos asked.
‘What I thought was we had to get control of this. We have to move it faster. We have to move in such a way that we can control that airport. And we did,’ Biden said.
Taliban fighters have erected a wall around the airport and are also preventing many people from entering the arena.
The US said on Tuesday it had successfully evacuated 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy personnel, except for a handful of diplomats working at the airport. Officials have said they expect to be able to ramp up to 9,000 evacuees per day.
At one point the president became enraged as an ABC News anchor pressed him over heart-wrenching scenes from Hamid Karzai airport, where Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban regime were glued to US planes as they taxed the runway
US Embassy staff from Afghanistan aboard a Qatar Airways flight to Kuwait on August 17
Taliban forces stand guard outside Hamid Karzai airport, patrolling who is allowed to enter
Biden is sticking to his decision to bring troops home by August 31. For now, they are on humanitarian grounds to help evacuate Americans and allies from America.
On Monday, Biden defended his decision to bring in domestic troops and drew attention to Afghanistan’s leadership.
Biden said, ‘I stand completely behind my decision. ’20 years later I’ve learned the hard way. That there was never a good time to call back the US military. So we are still there.
‘I am the President of the United States of America,’ he said. ‘And the deer stops with me.’
But only up to a point. He said the blame for such rapid disintegration lies not with him, but his predecessors as president and leaders of Afghanistan.
‘The truth is – it appeared faster than we expected,’ she said, her eyes narrow.
‘So what? The political leaders of Afghanistan conceded defeat and fled the country.
‘The Afghan army fell, sometimes without even trying to fight.’
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