BIDEN-AFGHANISTAN
WASHINGTON DC (77WABC/AP) – President Biden announcing that US troops will begin it’s final withdrawal of Afghanistan on May 1st. “We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately and safely.”
Biden said all troops will leave Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of September 11th. He stressed though, “We will not take our eye off the terrorist threat.” Withdrawal talks materialized under a peace agreement the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year.
This afternoon, I’m announcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and providing an update on the path forward. Watch live. https://t.co/SPiLX24VdM
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 14, 2021
He also tweeted, “It is time to end America’s longest war.”
“We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago,” Biden will say in remarks Wednesday afternoon, according to excerpts released by the White House. “That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.”
It is time to end America’s longest war.
It is time for American troops to come home from Afghanistan.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 14, 2021
There are currently about 2,500 US forces in Afghanistan.
“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden says in the speech excerpts. “I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth.”
