US speeds up withdrawal from Afghanistan as Biden fixes August deadline New conflicts

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. military would end its withdrawal from Afghanistan by August 31 earlier than planned, and dismissed concerns about the civil war that has been unfolding in the U.S.-occupied country since 2001.

“The mission is carried out when we got Osama bin Laden and terrorism does not come out of that part of the world,” Biden stressed, defending his decision to continue. Rapid withdrawal from the US In the face of escalating Taliban attacks on Afghan forces.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after al-Qaeda attacks in New York and Washington. The U.S. has withdrawn approximately 3,500 troops in a process that the U.S. military now says is 90 percent.

“Our military commanders told me we had to move quickly when I made the decision to end the war,” Biden said.

“In this context, speed is security,” said the president, who is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military system and has authority over the deployment of troops.

The U.S. will continue to have hundreds of troops in Afghanistan to maintain the security of the U.S. embassy and diplomatic community and the city’s airport. U.S. authorities have said the military will maintain its “beyond the horizon” ability to respond to incidents.

After the US withdrawal US agreement arrived under the command of former President Donald Trump Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy to the Taliban in talks in Qatar. It was accepted by the US by US and foreign forces he would leave by May 1st. In exchange, he promised that the Taliban would negotiate a peace deal with Western protection in Kabul.

When he took office in Biden in January, he had a tremendous opportunity to fulfill an agreement with the Taliban or to lead U.S. forces into an ever-expanding war.

Biden said on Thursday that he and his top advisers had concluded the only path to peace and stability in Afghanistan through an agreement negotiated by the Western-backed Afghan government in Kabul, regional leaders and the Taliban.

“We didn’t go to Afghanistan to build the nation,” the president said.

In months since the first significant peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban, a government delegation convened Taliban representatives in Tehran on July 8. Fighters on both sides has made a joint document he said that “war is not the solution to the problem in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban said it had captured the main border crossing with Iran on Thursday, a Taliban spokesman posted a video showing alleged fighters crossing the border into Islam Qala and was welcomed by local residents. It would be the third international frontier the group has taken over, as its fighters take over the country.

A Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that there were Taliban fighters take dozens of neighborhood centers Afghanistan.

“They’ve taken dozens of neighborhood centers, it’s true. And we think they want to threaten provincial centers as well, ”Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

A Biden defense answered a number of questions shouted at the White House by reporters, comparing it to the U.S. departure from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.

“No. No, no, no, ”Biden says when asked if they are responsible for the lives of Afghans lost after the U.S. withdrawal.

“It is up to the people of Afghanistan to decide what government they want, not to impose government.”

Representatives of the Afghan government and representatives of the Taliban held a meeting in Tehran [Iran foreign ministry handout/via EPA-EFE]

Biden has denied that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that he will hand over the Afghan government to the Taliban without the presence of U.S. forces. Biden He met at the White House Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, and Abdullah Abdullah, President of the National Council, on June 25 and pledged to continue to provide financial and diplomatic assistance to the government.

Biden said the Afghan army is well-prepared and equipped, and that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is not inevitable. The U.S. has trained and equipped more than 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, even though the Afghan army is based on U.S. and foreign contractors for air support.

“I don’t trust the Taliban but I trust the ability of the Afghan army,” Biden said.

Biden offered a message to the interpreters who worked with the soldiers and other Afghans: “There is a house in the United States for you, if you will, and we will be with you as you were with us.”

Congress is advancing legislation passed by Biden to remove bureaucratic barriers to the placement of thousands of Afghans and their families in U.S. territory, possibly the Pacific Island of Guam.