Joe Biden vowed to attack the perpetrators of the attacks in Afghanistan: “We will make them pay”

With a grim tone and tears in his eyes, United States President Joe Biden declared that the American soldiers killed in Thursday’s attack on Afghanistan were “heroes” and promised that the attacks would not stand. unpunished: “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We are going to hunt them down and make them pay “, he warned.

In a speech at the White House, the president said he was “outraged” and “heartbroken” by the suicide bombings in the area of ​​Kabul airport which killed around 70 people. including 12 members of the armed forces the United States and dozens of Afghan civilians seeking to leave the country.

These are the most serious attacks against US forces in Afghanistan since 2011, when they shot down a helicopter laden with soldiers. The attacks on Thursday were claimed by the ISIS-Khorasan group, uan Afghan faction of the Islamic army rivaling the Taliban.

“I will defend my people and our interests with all the strength at my disposal,” he said. And he warned that they will go ahead with their evacuation plans, which should be concluded on August 31: “We will not let that interrupt our mission. Our mission will continue. We are going to evacuate the Americans, ”he said. And he added that “these terrorists are not going to win”.

More troops?

However, does not exclude the possibility of increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan if necessary.

Biden focused all day in the White House crisis room on this fierce crisis and even postponed a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennet.

Kabul attack it hits hard in the Biden government, which planned to complete the full evacuation of American and Afghan citizens who collaborated with the West on August 31.

The question was whether Biden would change his strategy on Afghanistan but, in the president’s words, the evacuation would proceed as planned. These were tough statements, of course, but not a concrete announcement of a new strategy. In fact, at the end of the press conference, he said goodbye to reporters saying: “It’s time to end this 20+ year war.”

Although so far Western forces are evacuating at an accelerated pace, the attack complicates the dynamic. Several European countries such as Denmark, Holland and Belgium, they had slowed down the rate of evacuations in the face of the threat. Canada directly canceled them.

Daesh

Consulted by Bugle, Aved Ali, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that “ISIS-Khorasan maintains a strong capacity supported by logistics, expertise, equipment and the people. to support your campaign in the country, despite pressure from the Afghan security forces, the Taliban and, until recently, the international coalition.

For this expert, now a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and former head of the National Intelligence Council, the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Security Council under the administration of Donald Trump, “it is very likely that the attack today comes to reinforce President Biden’s wish to dis to get rid of participation completely of the United States in Afghanistan, which could include the suspension of the activities of the American embassy for a period of time given the security environment.

He added: “Biden has said repeatedly that he does not see a lasting vital national interest in the United States. in maintaining an American military footprint in Afghanistan. As a result, it would be highly unlikely for the U.S. presence to stay beyond the August 31 deadline. “

Laura Neack, professor of political science at the University of Miami, shares this vision. Consulted by Bugle He said that “this attack is likely to speed up the withdrawal, making it difficult for some people who did not make it to the airport to leave Afghanistan. Biden is firmly committed to the pullout and this attack will only confirm the president’s course of action. “

The US foreign policy expert added that “the attack will be answered, but not with the extension of the US stay. The capabilities of the United States against terrorism are not limited by national territory. Without a doubt, the meeting between the American director of the CIA and the Taliban earlier this week it was intelligence that pointed to this attack. “

PB