troops were injured over the 20-year span.Īlong with the war in Iraq, the intervention in Afghanistan cost U.S. military were killed over the 20 years of the war, which also saw the death of almost 4,000 U.S. military in country over the last 20 years. Bush in the aftermath of Septemto hunt down Al Qaeda leaders and operatives, Afghanistan saw more than 800,000 members of the U.S. By the time I came to office the Taliban was in the strongest military position since 2001.”įirst invaded by George W. But it did authorize the release of 5,000 prisoners last year, including some of the Taliban’s top war commanders among those who just took control of Afghanistan. “It included no requirement that the Taliban worked out a cooperative governing arrangement with the Afghan government. troops by May the 1st, just months after I was inaugurated,” Biden added forcefully about critics some Republicans already are using words like impeachment. “My predecessor, the former President, signed an agreement with the Taliban to remove U.S. “It was designed to save American lives,” he added of his self-proclaimed “wise decision” that in many ways was straight out of Ronald Reagan’s tendency to blame Jimmy Carter for almost anything. “Let me be clear, leaving August the 31st was not due to an arbitrary deadline,” Biden asserted today in words focused as much on overseas policy as it was on the domestic sacrifice and toil of the war. “I know my decision will be criticized, but I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on another President of the United States, yet another one,” POTUS 46 said on August 16, echoing language from a previous speech on withdrawing from the so-called “forever war.” forces would be out of Afghanistan by August 31. Picking up on the 2020 deal struck with the Taliban by Donald Trump, Biden proclaimed in April of this year that all U.S. “My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over.”Īmidst all the shallow Vietnam comparisons, the much-criticized retreat had the added black eye of scenes Monday of the once nearly vanquished Taliban celebrating its victory and return to power with a cache of billions of dollars of abandoned American hardware and helicopters now also under their control.

“This is a new world where the terror threat has metastasized across the world well beyond Afghanistan,” he added, declaring a Biden Doctrine of sorts where America only fights battles with clear objectives. “It was time to end this war,” a stern and clearly sometime frustrated Biden said in words we have heard before from the White House, adding that his policy was not an invitation for enemies to presume the superpower’s resolve had weakened. The extraordinary success of his mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomas and intelligence professionals.” “Only the United States had the capacity and the will and the ability to do it and we did it today. “No nation, no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history,” Biden said Tuesday in his nearly hourlong speech. On Tuesday, the President praised the unprecedented evacuation of what eventually became more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan over the past few weeks. service members were killed in a terror attack at Kabul International Airport last week, which Biden himself had warned about two days earlier.

Broadcasters CBS, ABC and NBC also cut into regularly scheduled programming as the nation is less than two weeks away from the 20th anniversary of the fatal attacks of 9/11.Īs America stumbled through an exit strategy that often seemed to put the cart before the real politick horse, 13 U.S. The speech seemed to leave many pundits a bit shell-shocked by Biden’s defiant resolve to move on. I respectfully disagree,” he said.Īs with previous Afghanistan remarks by Biden in the past few weeks, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and BBC World all covered the distinctly not primetime speech live from the White House. “Now, some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner and couldn’t this have been done in a more orderly manner.

left Afghanistan with fatalities and heartbreak. “I take responsibility for the decision,” Biden proclaimed of the way the U.S. “I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit.” “The real choice between leaving or escalating,” Biden explained, citing national interest and the changing world in his remarks this afternoon. 'Impeachment: American Crime Story' Review: No High Crimes But Lots Of Missed Opportunities In FX's Latest Ryan Murphy 1990s Throwback

Gramps house fox news live streaming