The last US soldiers left Kabul on Monday at midnight.
Addressing the people of the United States on Tuesday, Biden said the United States no longer had a clear purpose in keeping its soldiers in Afghanistan.
He said the US military presence should have ended long ago in Afghanistan, and that he did not see any reason to engage a new generation of American sons and daughters in the war in Afghanistan.
“We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refused to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago,” he said.
Biden went on and said that he has now fulfilled his promise made to the people of the United States during his election campaign of ending the US military presence in Afghanistan.
“When I was running for president, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. Today I have honored that commitment,” he said.
He said that over two trillion dollars has been spent in Afghanistan, which “would be over $300 million dollars a day for 20 years in Afghanistan.”
According to Biden, the US military presence in Afghanistan was no longer in the national interests of the United States.
“I refused to continue a war that was no longer in the service of the vital national interests of our people,” Biden said, adding that 800,000 Americans have served in Afghanistan in the past 20 years.
Biden said that 20,744 American servicemen and women were injured in Afghanistan and 2,641 US soldiers were killed, saying: “I refused to open another decade of warfare in Afghanistan.”
Biden’s remarks come as the United States has suspended its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
