WASHINGTON (CU)_US President Joe Biden , on Wednesday (14 April), announced plans to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan, during a White House address delivered from the Treaty Room, from where former President George W. Bush announced airstrikes in the South Asian nation two decades ago. Accordingly, US troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan by September 11 this year, which will mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.
“With the terror threat now in many places, keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me, and to our leaders,” the American leader said solemnly.
He noted that this cycle of extending or expanding America’s military presence in Afghanistan should not be continued. He pointed out that he is now the fourth US President to preside over American troop presence in war-torn nation, adding that he will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.
“It’s time to end the forever war,” President Biden said, adding that the war in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking. He pointed out that he was the first American President in 40 years to know what it means to have a son serving in a war zone. He extended his gratitude towards members of the military, saying the US is forever indebted to them who fought and died in Afghanistan.
“We delivered justice to bin Laden a decade ago, and we’ve stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since,” the US President said. “Since then, our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan have become increasingly unclear, even as the terrorist threat that we went to fight evolved.”
