Joe Biden defended the withdrawal from Afghanistan but warned ISIS-K terrorists: “We are not done with you yet.”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday hailed the “extraordinary success” of the evacuation mission of the Americans and their allies in Afghanistan., during a solemn speech to the White House on the end of America’s longest war.

“No country has achieved something like this in all of history,” said the President of the United States. “The extraordinary success of this mission is due to the incredible talent, bravery and selfless courage of the United States military, our diplomats and our intelligence professionals.”

The Democratic President warned ISIS-K, the terrorist group that killed 13 American soldiers in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport, that there will be more retaliation from Washington.

“We will continue to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries,” Biden said. “And at ISIS-K: we are not done with you yet,” he added.

Terrorist threats have changed, they have spread to other countries, our strategy must also change, ”he added.

The President of the United States was vehement and defended his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, saying it was in the US national interest.

“We no longer had a clear objective in an open mission in Afghanistan“, He declared a day after the final withdrawal.

“It’s the right decision. A wise decision. And the best decision for the United States, ”he said.

“To those calling for a third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, ‘What is the vital national interest? “, Biden asked. And he added: “I just don’t think US security will improve if thousands of US troops continue to be deployed and billions of dollars spent in Afghanistan.“.

Biden pledged to help dozens of U.S. citizens who remain in Afghanistan leave the country if they choose.

“For the Americans who stay there, there is no deadline. We remain committed to getting them out if they want to get out, ”Biden said.

On the end of the war in Afghanistan, the Democrat said the US option was to withdraw from the country or escalate the conflict.

“It was the choice: between starting or climbing. I wasn’t going to prolong this war forever, and I wasn’t going to prolong an outcome forever.Biden said.

In a written statement on Monday, Biden said military commanders were unanimously in favor of ending the airlift rather than extending it. In addition, he said he asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to coordinate with international partners to keep the Taliban on their promise of safe passage for Americans and others who wish to leave in the coming days.

Blinken estimated the number of Americans still in Afghanistan at less than 200, “probably closer to 100”, and said the State Department will continue to work to remove them. And he announced that the American diplomatic presence would move to Doha, Qatar.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said on Tuesday of efforts to get the remaining Americans out: “It’s just that he went from a military mission to a diplomatic mission”. At Hello america of ABC, cited “considerable influence” on the Taliban to carry out this effort.

The last hours of the evacuation were marked by extraordinary drama. The American troops were faced with the arduous task of bringing the last evacuees into the planes and at the same time removing some of their equipment themselves., even monitoring repeated threats, and at least two actual attacks, by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan. A suicide bombing on August 26 killed 13 US servicemen and approximately 180 Afghans. More died in various incidents during the evacuation of the airport.

The final withdrawal fulfilled Biden’s promise to end what he called an “eternal war” that began in response to the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.. His decision, announced in April, reflected national fatigue in the face of the conflict in Afghanistan.

According to Biden, the war could have ended 10 years ago with the assassination of Osama bin Laden by the United States, whose extremist Al-Qaeda network planned and carried out the 9/11 attack from a sanctuary in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has declined dramatically, which has so far prevented it from attacking the United States again.

(With information from AFP and AP)

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