Joe Biden, the President of the United States, said in his final speech as president on Monday (January 13) that Afghanistan has not been a safe haven for terrorists or a threat to the US since the withdrawal of American forces.
In his speech, the US president also mentioned that Washington has been able to manage Afghanistan remotely.
Speaking about the nature of threats from Afghanistan, he said: “When we got Bin Laden during the Obama-Biden administration, the primary objective of war had been accomplished. And I believe that going forward, the primary threat of al-Qaeda would no longer be emanating from Afghanistan, but from elsewhere. And so we do not need to station a sizable number of American forces in Afghanistan.”
Biden further added that contrary to assumptions, Afghanistan did not become a safe haven for terrorists after the US withdrawal, and the United States has maintained its capability to manage Afghanistan remotely over the past three years.
“Remember, critics said if we ended the war it would damage our alliances and create threats to our homeland from foreign-directed terrorism out of a safe haven in Afghanistan. Neither has occurred. Neither has occurred.
Our alliance has stayed strong. We’ve used our over-the-horizon capabilities to strike in Afghanistan and elsewhere when we had to,” Biden said.
The US president also referred to the withdrawal from Afghanistan as one of his administration’s significant achievements, saying that there was no justification for the extensive US military presence in Afghanistan.
Amanullah Hotaki, a political analyst, commented on Biden’s remarks, saying:
“Over the past four years, Biden has frequently spoken about Afghanistan and often made contradictory statements. Afghanistan was not a safe haven for terrorists in the past, it is not now, and it will not be in the future.”
This comes as a new administration in the United States is set to take office in less than a week. Previously, Afghanistan’s caretaker government had also called on the incoming US administration to reconsider its policies toward Afghanistan.
