– US President Joe Biden said that the Afghan “Taliban” movement has reached its strongest militarily since 2001.
Biden confirmed today, Thursday, that the military mission of the US forces in Afghanistan will end on August 31, indicating that he will not send another generation of Americans to the war in Afghanistan.
He said: “We are ending America’s longest war,” stressing that “we did not enter Afghanistan in order to build the nation, and this is the right and responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their fate and how they want to run their country.”
On the future of Afghanistan, Biden said that US intelligence does not believe that the Afghan government will collapse, and considered that the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan is not inevitable.
Biden added that he does not trust the “Taliban”, but he does trust the capabilities of the Afghan forces. He pointed out that no country was able to unify Afghanistan earlier.
He stressed that the United States does not bear responsibility for civilian casualties in the event the “Taliban” imposed control over Afghanistan.
Biden stressed that the United States will continue to work for the release of Americans detained in Afghanistan.
Biden also assured the “Afghan allies” who helped the American forces in Afghanistan, that there is a “home” for them in the United States, calling for speeding up the process of issuing special visas for Afghans who cooperated with the American forces.
He stated that the United States will start this month by implementing special flights to evacuate those who have obtained those visas.
Biden urged Afghan leaders to find consensus among them, and also called on countries in the region to intensify efforts to activate a political solution in Afghanistan.
The US President stressed that his country is repositioning its capabilities and counter-terrorism forces to confront threats wherever they are present.
He added that the United States should focus on gathering strength and focusing efforts on its strategic competition with China and other countries.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency