Washington: US President Joe Biden has announced that the US military operation in Afghanistan will end on August 31. He said that the withdrawal of troops from the war-torn country is being done in a safe and systematic manner.
Biden, in his key policy address on Afghanistan after a meeting with the national security team on Thursday, said the US had accomplished its goals in the country and that the time was opportune to withdraw troops. “Our military mission in Afghanistan will end on August 31,” Biden told reporters at the White House. The withdrawal of troops is being done in a safe and orderly manner in which the safety of our returning soldiers is the first.
The US president dismissed reports that the Taliban would take over the country soon after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. “The Afghan government and the leadership will have to come together. They have the ability to form the government.” “There is no question of whether they have the capability or not. They have potential. They have forces. They have the means. The question is whether they will do it.” Biden said the US military mission in Afghanistan would continue until August.
“America did what we went to Afghanistan for. We had to nab the terrorists who attacked 9/11 and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. We had to prove his threat to make Afghanistan a terrorist base.”
The US President said that his country has achieved these objectives. He said, “That’s why we went. We did not go to Afghanistan for nation-building. He alone has the responsibility and authority to decide the future of the people of Afghanistan. They have to decide how they want to run the country.”
