November 14, 2023 • 26 mins
Joe BidenJuly 08, 2021Source The White House
President Joe Biden details his administration's decision to remove US forces from Afghanistan. He notes that "it was not in the national interest of the United States of America to continue fighting this war indefinitely." He believes that it is time for the Afghan people and leaders to come together to decide their future and how they want to run their country.
President Joe Biden details his administration's decision to remove US forces from Afghanistan. He notes that "it was not in the national interest of the United States of America to continue fighting this war indefinitely." He believes that it is time for the Afghan people and leaders to come together to decide their future and how they want to run their country.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good afternoon. Earlier today, Iwas beefed by our senior military and national
security leaders on the status of thedrawdown of US forces and allied forces in
Afghanistan. When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would
be out by September, and we'reon track to meet that target. Excuse
(00:20):
me, our military mission in Afghanistanwill conclude on August thirty. First,
the drawdown of proceeding in a secureand orderly way, prioritizing the safety of
our troops as they depart. Ourmilitary commanders advised me that once I made
the decision and the war, weneeded to move swiftly to conduct the main
(00:41):
elements of the drawdoun and in thiscontext, speed is safety. And thanks
to the way in which we havemanaged our withdrawal, no one, no
one US forces or any forces havebeen lost. Conducting our draw down differently
would have certainly come with a increaserisk of safety to our personnel. To
(01:03):
me, those risks were unacceptable,and there was never any doubt that our
military performed this task efficiently and withthe highest level of professionalism. That's what
they do, and the same astwo of our NATO allies and partners who
have supported we are supporting and supportingUS as well as they conclude their retrograde.
(01:26):
I want to be clear, theUS military mission Afghanistan continues through the
end of August. We remain weretained personnel and capacities in the country,
and we maintained some authority to assumeme the same authority under which we've been
operating for some time. As Isaid in April, the United States did
(01:47):
what we want to do in Afghanistanto get the terrorists to attack us a
nine to eleven and deliver justice toOsama bin Laden, and a degrade the
terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from comingto base from which the attacks could be
continued against the United States. Weachieved those objectives. That's why we went.
(02:08):
We did not go to Afghanistan tonation build. And it's the right
and the responsibility of Afghan people aloneto decide their future and how they want
to run their country. Together withour NATO allies and partners, we have
trained and equipped over three or nearlythree hundred thousand current serving members of the
(02:30):
military, the Afghan NAW Security Force, and many beyond that who are no
longer serving. Add to that,hundreds of thousands more Afghan national defense and
security forces trained over the last twodecades. We provided our Afghan partners with
all the tools, let me emphasizeall the tools, training equipment of any
(02:51):
modern military. We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide
funding and equipment, and we'll ensurethey have the capacity to maintain their air
force. But most critically, asI stressed to my meeting just two weeks
ago with President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Afghan leaders have to come together and
(03:13):
drive toward the future that if theAfghan people want and they deserve. In
our meeting, I also assured Ghanithat US support for the people of Afghanistan
will endure. We will continue toprovide civilian and humanitarian assistants, including speaking
out for the rights of women andgirls. I intend to maintain our diplomatic
(03:35):
presidents in Afghanistan, and we arecoordinating closely with our international partners in order
to continue to secure the international airport. And we're going to engage in a
determined diplomacy to pursue peace and apeace agreement that will end this senseless violence.
I've asked Secretary of State Blincoln andour Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation to
(03:58):
work vigorously with the parties in Afghanistanas well as the regional and international stakeholders
to support a negotiated solution to beclear. To be clear, countries in
the region having a sense of roleto play and supporting a peaceful settlement will
work with them, and they shouldhelp step up their efforts as well.
(04:19):
We're going to continue to work forthe release of detaining Americans, including Mark
Ferricks. I want to pronounce thename correctly, I misspoke, so that
he can return to his family safely. We're also going to continue to make
sure that we take on the Afghannationals who work side by side with US
(04:43):
forces, including interpreters and translators.Since we're no longer going to have military
there after this, we're not goingto need them and they have no jobs.
We're also going to be vital toour efforts, so they and they've
been very vital, and so theirfamilies are not exposed to danger as well.
We've already dramatically accelerated the procedure timefor special immigrant visas to bring them
(05:05):
to the United States since I wasinaugurated in January twentieth. We've already approved
two thy five hundred special immigrant visasto come to the United States. Up
to now, fewer than half haveexercised their right to do that. Half
have gotten on aircraft commercial flights incomean other half believe they want to stay
(05:26):
at least thus far. We're workingclosely with Congress to change the authorization legislation
so that we can streamline the processof approving those visas and those who have
stood up for the operation to physicallyrecocate thousands of Afghans and their families before
the US military mission concludes, sothat if they choose, they can wait
safely outside of Afghanistan while their USvisas are being processed. The operation has
(05:54):
identified US facilities outside of the continentof the United States as well as in
third country to host our Afghan alliesif they choose. They so choose,
and this starting this month, we'regoing to begin to relocate. We're going
to begin relocation flights for Afghanistan SIVapplicants and their families who choose to leave.
(06:16):
We have a point person in theWhite House and the State Department led
task force coordinating all these efforts.But our message to those women and men
is clear. There is a homefor you in the United States if you
so choose, and we will standwith you, just as you stood with
us. When I made the decisionto end the US military involvement in Afghanistan,
(06:41):
I judged that it was not inthe national interests in the United States
of America to continue fighting this warindefinitely. I made the decision with clear
eyes, and I'm brief daily onthe battlefield updates. But for those who
have argued that we should stay justsix more months or just one more year,
I asked them to consider the lessonsof recent history. In two thousand
(07:04):
and eleven, the NATO allies andpartners agreed that we would end our combat
mission in twenty fourteen. In twentyfourteen, some argued one more year,
so we kept fighting, We kepttaking casualties. In twenty fifteen the same,
and on and on. Nearly twentyyears of experience has shown us that
(07:26):
the current security situation only confirms thatjust one more year fighting in Afghanistan is
not a solution, but a recipefor being there indefinitely. It's up to
the Afghans to make the decision aboutthe future of their country. Others are
more direct. Their argument is thatwe should stay with the Afghan in Afghanistan
(07:46):
and definitely and doing so. Theypoint to the fact that we have not
taken losses in this last year,so they claim that the cost of just
maintaining the status co was minimal.But that ignores the reality and the facts
that already presented on the ground inAfghanistan. When I took office, the
(08:07):
Taliban was that his strongest is atits strongest militarily. Since two thousand and
one, the number of US forcein Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare
minimum, and the United States andthe last administration made an agreement that they
with the Taliban and remove all ourforces by May one of this pest of
this year. That's what I inherited. That agreement was the reason that Taliban
(08:31):
had ceased major attacks against US forces. If in April I had instead announced
that the United States was going toback going back on that agreement, maybe
by the last administration the United Statesand allied forces remained in Afghanistan for the
foreseeable future, the Taliban would haveagain begun to target our forces. The
(08:52):
status quo was not an option.Stain would have met US troops taking casualties
American men and women back in themiddle of a civil war, and we
would run the risk of having tosend more troops back in Afghanistan to defend
our remaining troops. Once that agreementwith the Taliban had been made, staying
(09:13):
with a bare minimum force was nolonger possible. So let me ask those
who wanted us to stay, howmany more how many thousands of more Americans
daughters and sons were you willing torisk? How long would you have them
stay? Already we have members ofour military whose parents fought in Afghanistan twenty
(09:35):
years ago? Would you send theirchildren and their grandchildren as well? Would
you send your own son or daughter? After twenty years, a trillion dollars
spent training and equipping hundreds of thousandsof afghanias security and defense forces, two
thousand, four hundred and forty eightAmericans killed, twenty thousand, seven hundred
(10:01):
and twenty two more wounded, anduntold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to
the mental health. I will notsend another generation Americans to war in Afghanistan
with no reasonable expectation of achieving adifferent outcome. The United States cannot afford
to remain tethered to policies creating aresponse to a world as it was twenty
(10:26):
years ago. We need to meetthe threats where they are today. Today,
the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan, so we are repositioning our resources
and adapting our counter terrorism posture tomeet the threats where they are now significantly
(10:46):
higher in South Asia, the MiddleEast, and Africa. But make no
mistake, our military and intelligence leadersare confident they have the capabilities to protect
the homeland and our interests from anyresurgent terrorist challenge in merging or emanating from
Afghanistan. We are developing a counterterrorism over the horizon capability that will allow
(11:11):
us to keep our eyes firmly fixedand any direct threats to the United States
in the region, and act quicklyand decisively if needed. We also need
to focus on shoring up America's corestrengths to meet the strategic competition with China
and other nations that is really goingto determine determine our future. We have
(11:33):
to defeat COVID nineteen at home andaround the world. Make sure we're better
prepared for the next pandemic or biologicalthreat. We need to establish international norms
for cyberspace and the use of emergingtechnologies. We need to take concerted action
to fight existential threats of climate change, and we will be more formidable to
(11:56):
our adversaries and competitors over the longrun if we fight the battles of the
next twenty years, not the lasttwenty years. Finally, I want to
recognize the incredible sacrifice and dedication thatthe US military and civilian personnel serving alongside
our allies and partners have made overthe last two decades in Afghanistan. I
(12:18):
want to honor the significance of whatthey've accomplished and the great personal risk they
encountered and incredible cost to their familiespursuing the terrorist threat to some of the
most unforgiving terrain on the planet.I've been almost throughout that entire country ensuring
(12:41):
there hasn't been another attack on thehomeland from Afghanistan for the last twenty years,
taking out Bin Laden. I wantto thank you all for your service
and the dedication to the mission somany of you have given, and to
the sacrifice is that you and yourfamilies have made over the long course of
(13:03):
this war, We'll never forget thosewho gave the last full measure of devotion
for their country in Afghanistan are thosewhose lives have been immeasurably older by wounds
sustained in the service of the country. We're ending America's longest war, but
we'll always always honor the bravery ofthe American patriots who served it. May
(13:28):
God bless you all, and mayGod protect our troops. Thank you.
Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan nowinevitable? No, it is not.
Because you have the Afghan troops havethree hundred thousand well equipped as well as
(13:52):
corippt as any army in the world, and an air force against something like
seventy five thousand Taliban. It isnot inevitable. You trust the Taliban,
mister President, You trust the talibanser? Is that a serious question? Absolutely
a serious question. You trust theTaliban? O? I do not the
(14:16):
Taliban. No, I do nottrust the Taliban. Applify that question.
Will you applify your answer, please? Chris, A silly question. Do
I trust the Taliban? No?But I trust the capacity of the Afghan
military, who was better trained,better equipped, and more more competent in
(14:41):
terms of conducting war. Yes,ma'am. Thank you, mister President,
given the amount of money that hasbeen spent, in the number of lives
that have been lost, in yourview, with making this decision, were
the last twenty years worth it?You know my record. I can tell
by the way you asked the question. I opposed permanently having American forces in
(15:09):
Afghanistan. I argued from the beginning. As you may recall, it came
to light after the administration was overlasted our administration, no nation has ever
unified Afghanistan. No nation empires havegone there and not done it. The
(15:35):
focus we had and I strongly supported, and you may remember I physically went
to Afghanistan. I was up inthat past where Osama bin Laden was allegedly
escaped or out of harm's way.We went for two reasons. One to
(16:00):
bring Osama bin Laden to the gatesof Hell, as I said at the
time. The second reason was toeliminate Al Qaida's capacity to deal with more
attacks in the United States from thatterritory. We accomplished both of those objectives
(16:22):
period. That's what I believe fromthe beginning why we should be and why
we should have gone to Afghanistan.That job had been over for some time,
and that's why I believe that thisis the right decision and quite frankly
overdue. Mister President, thank youvery much. Your own intelligence community has
(16:52):
assessed that the Afghan government will likelycollapse. That's is it. Can you
please clarify what they have told youabout whether that will happen or not.
That is not true. They didnot reach that conclusion. What is the
level of confidence that they have thatit will not collapse? The Afghan government
(17:15):
and leadership has to come together.They clearly have the capacity to sustain the
government in place. The question iswill they generate the kind of cohesion to
do it. It's not a questionof whether they have the capacity. They
have the capacity, they have theforces, they have the equipment. The
(17:37):
question is will they do it?And I want to make clear, but
I make clear to Gani that weare not going to walk away and not
sustain their ability to maintain that force. We are We're going to also work
to make sure we help them interms of everything from food necessities and other
things in the region. But thereis not a conclude that in fact they
(18:00):
cannot defeat the Tulliban. I believethe only way there's going to be this
is not Joe Biden, not theintelligence community. The only way there's all
going to be peace in security Afghanistanis that they work out a modus le
vendi with the Taliban and they makea judgment as to how they can make
peace. And the likely there's goingto be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling
(18:23):
the whole country is highly unlikely.It's hard than to thank you, but
we have talked to your own topgeneral in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.
He told ABC News the conditions areso concerning at this point that it could
result in a civil war. Soif cobble falls to the Taliban, what
will the United States do about it? Look, you've said two things.
(18:48):
One that if it could result ina civil war, that's different than the
Taliban succeeding number one. Number two, the question of what will be done
is going to be implicated and canimplicate the entire region as well. There's
a number of countries of a graveconcern about what's going to happen in Afghanistan
(19:10):
relative to their security. The questionis how much of a threat to the
United States of America and to ourallies is whatever results in terms of a
government or an agreement, that's whenthat judgment will be made. As President,
some some Vietnamese veterans see echoes oftheir experience in this withdrawal in Afghanistan.
(19:34):
Do you see any parallels between thiswithdrawal and what happened in Vietnam?
With some people feeling well, nonewhatsoever? Zero? What you had is
yet entire brigades breaking through the gatesof our embassy. Six. If I'm
not mistaken, the Taliban is notthe south of the North Vietnamese Army.
They're not. They're not remotely comparablein terms of capability. There's gonna be
(19:59):
no circumstance. You see people beinglifted off the roof of a embassy in
the of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comfortable.
Yes, to the other side,hanging on second, President, how serious
was the corruption among the Afghanistan governmentto this mission failing there? Well,
(20:22):
First of all, the mission hasn'tfailed yet. There is in Afghanistan and
all parties, there's been corruption.The question is can it be an agreement
on unity of purpose? What isthe objective. For example, it started
(20:42):
off there were going to be negotiationsbetween the Taliban and the Afghanistic security forces
and the Afghan government that that didn'tcome to didn't come to fruition. So
the question now is where where dothey go from here? That the jury
(21:03):
is still out, but the likelihoodthere's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything
and owning the whole country is highlyunlikely. Yes, ma'am, we the
United States he responsible for the lossof Afghan civilian lives that could happen after
the military as No, No,it's up to the people of Afghanistan decide
(21:25):
on what government they want, notus to impose the government on them.
No country has ever been able todo that. Keep in mind, as
a student of histories, I'm sureyou are never as Afghanistan been a united
country, not in all of itshistory, not in all of its history.
(21:45):
A mission accomplished moment, there's nomission accomplished. The mission was accomplished
in that we get a scott Osamabin Laden and terrorism is not emanating from
that part of the world. It'sa president rede in safety. As you
just said in your remarks, areyou satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan
(22:07):
nationals. Is it happening quickly enoughto your satisfaction? If it may not
happen until next month, at theend, much of us already happened.
There's already been people. About athousand people have gotten on aircraft coming the
United States already on commercial aircraft.So, as I said, there's over
twenty five hundred people that as fromJanuary to now have gotten those visas and
(22:30):
only half decided that they wanted toleave. The point is that I think
the whole process has to be speededup period in terms of being able to
get these visas. Why can't theUS evacuate these Afghan translators to the United
States to await their visa processing assome immigrants of the southern border law doesn't
(22:51):
allow that to happen, And that'swhy we're asking the Congress to consider changing
the law. But in the meantime, we can guarantarantee their safety if they
wish to leave by taking the thirdcountries and or while the weight is taking
place to come to uh To andhopefully while they're waiting there to be able
to bring them back to the UnitedStates. And that's what they choose to
(23:14):
do good message for Afghan woman infuture because they have achievement. They are
really concerned about their achievement. Theyare very concerned with good reason. When
I was in Afghanistan, I've beenthere a number of times. I remember
being in a school outside and Uhand by the way, the schools in
(23:40):
Afghanistan are not fundamentally like schools inthe West coast, where they have you
know, an area in the middlethat is sort of like looks like a
playground and single story buildings are connectedaround it. And I remember saying to
speaking to a group of young women, I guess they're roughly holdingess. They
(24:03):
look like they'd be fourteen, fifteenyears old, and they're in school and
there's a tiered classroom with single lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling, as I
know, you know, And Isaid, you know, the United States
came here to make sure that wegot this terrorist or some of bin Laden
(24:23):
and that terrorists did in the massagain to go after our country, and
then we're going to have to leave. And a young woman said, you
can't leave, you can't leave it. It was heartbreaking. You can't leave.
She said, I want to bea doctor. I want to be
a doctor. I want to bea doctor. If you leave, I'll
never be able to be a doctor. Well, that's why we spent so
(24:45):
much time and money training the Afghansecurity forces to do the work of defending
that if every work lineymite, So, yes, I'm aware. I'm going
to tell you one more question becausethe Taliban Russia today, Mister President,
(25:08):
I thank you. I wanted toask, with the benefit of hindsight,
you've spoken to the fact that theThalibon are sort of at their militarily strongest
point that you've seen in twenty years. How do you feel personally about that,
with the benefit of hindsight and allof the dollars in investments and American
troops that were sent there, relativeto the training and capacity of the a
(25:30):
n SF and the train the federalpolice, they're not even close in terms
of their capacity. I was makingthe point. The point was that here
we were. I was the argumentis, well, we could stay because
no one was dying, No Americansare being shot, so why leave?
Once the agreement was made by thelast administration, we were going to leave
(25:52):
by May first. It was veryclear that a tally bond that had always
been a problem. Was he bea more sophisticated problem than they were than
before, not more sophisticated than theansf than government more than they were,
the point being that it would haveincreased the prospect that they would have been
able to take more lives of Americansif they decided we weren't going to go
(26:17):
after him. That was the pointI was making. Thank you all so
very much. Talman officials on thewithdrawal
Good afternoon. Earlier today, Iwas beefed by our senior military and national
security leaders on the status of thedrawdown of US forces and allied forces in
Afghanistan. When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would
be out by September, and we'reon track to meet that target. Excuse
(00:20):
me, our military mission in Afghanistanwill conclude on August thirty. First,
the drawdown of proceeding in a secureand orderly way, prioritizing the safety of
our troops as they depart. Ourmilitary commanders advised me that once I made
the decision and the war, weneeded to move swiftly to conduct the main
(00:41):
elements of the drawdoun and in thiscontext, speed is safety. And thanks
to the way in which we havemanaged our withdrawal, no one, no
one US forces or any forces havebeen lost. Conducting our draw down differently
would have certainly come with a increaserisk of safety to our personnel. To
(01:03):
me, those risks were unacceptable,and there was never any doubt that our
military performed this task efficiently and withthe highest level of professionalism. That's what
they do, and the same astwo of our NATO allies and partners who
have supported we are supporting and supportingUS as well as they conclude their retrograde.
(01:26):
I want to be clear, theUS military mission Afghanistan continues through the
end of August. We remain weretained personnel and capacities in the country,
and we maintained some authority to assumeme the same authority under which we've been
operating for some time. As Isaid in April, the United States did
(01:47):
what we want to do in Afghanistanto get the terrorists to attack us a
nine to eleven and deliver justice toOsama bin Laden, and a degrade the
terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from comingto base from which the attacks could be
continued against the United States. Weachieved those objectives. That's why we went.
(02:08):
We did not go to Afghanistan tonation build. And it's the right
and the responsibility of Afghan people aloneto decide their future and how they want
to run their country. Together withour NATO allies and partners, we have
trained and equipped over three or nearlythree hundred thousand current serving members of the
(02:30):
military, the Afghan NAW Security Force, and many beyond that who are no
longer serving. Add to that,hundreds of thousands more Afghan national defense and
security forces trained over the last twodecades. We provided our Afghan partners with
all the tools, let me emphasizeall the tools, training equipment of any
(02:51):
modern military. We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide
funding and equipment, and we'll ensurethey have the capacity to maintain their air
force. But most critically, asI stressed to my meeting just two weeks
ago with President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Afghan leaders have to come together and
(03:13):
drive toward the future that if theAfghan people want and they deserve. In
our meeting, I also assured Ghanithat US support for the people of Afghanistan
will endure. We will continue toprovide civilian and humanitarian assistants, including speaking
out for the rights of women andgirls. I intend to maintain our diplomatic
(03:35):
presidents in Afghanistan, and we arecoordinating closely with our international partners in order
to continue to secure the international airport. And we're going to engage in a
determined diplomacy to pursue peace and apeace agreement that will end this senseless violence.
I've asked Secretary of State Blincoln andour Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation to
(03:58):
work vigorously with the parties in Afghanistanas well as the regional and international stakeholders
to support a negotiated solution to beclear. To be clear, countries in
the region having a sense of roleto play and supporting a peaceful settlement will
work with them, and they shouldhelp step up their efforts as well.
(04:19):
We're going to continue to work forthe release of detaining Americans, including Mark
Ferricks. I want to pronounce thename correctly, I misspoke, so that
he can return to his family safely. We're also going to continue to make
sure that we take on the Afghannationals who work side by side with US
(04:43):
forces, including interpreters and translators.Since we're no longer going to have military
there after this, we're not goingto need them and they have no jobs.
We're also going to be vital toour efforts, so they and they've
been very vital, and so theirfamilies are not exposed to danger as well.
We've already dramatically accelerated the procedure timefor special immigrant visas to bring them
(05:05):
to the United States since I wasinaugurated in January twentieth. We've already approved
two thy five hundred special immigrant visasto come to the United States. Up
to now, fewer than half haveexercised their right to do that. Half
have gotten on aircraft commercial flights incomean other half believe they want to stay
(05:26):
at least thus far. We're workingclosely with Congress to change the authorization legislation
so that we can streamline the processof approving those visas and those who have
stood up for the operation to physicallyrecocate thousands of Afghans and their families before
the US military mission concludes, sothat if they choose, they can wait
safely outside of Afghanistan while their USvisas are being processed. The operation has
(05:54):
identified US facilities outside of the continentof the United States as well as in
third country to host our Afghan alliesif they choose. They so choose,
and this starting this month, we'regoing to begin to relocate. We're going
to begin relocation flights for Afghanistan SIVapplicants and their families who choose to leave.
(06:16):
We have a point person in theWhite House and the State Department led
task force coordinating all these efforts.But our message to those women and men
is clear. There is a homefor you in the United States if you
so choose, and we will standwith you, just as you stood with
us. When I made the decisionto end the US military involvement in Afghanistan,
(06:41):
I judged that it was not inthe national interests in the United States
of America to continue fighting this warindefinitely. I made the decision with clear
eyes, and I'm brief daily onthe battlefield updates. But for those who
have argued that we should stay justsix more months or just one more year,
I asked them to consider the lessonsof recent history. In two thousand
(07:04):
and eleven, the NATO allies andpartners agreed that we would end our combat
mission in twenty fourteen. In twentyfourteen, some argued one more year,
so we kept fighting, We kepttaking casualties. In twenty fifteen the same,
and on and on. Nearly twentyyears of experience has shown us that
(07:26):
the current security situation only confirms thatjust one more year fighting in Afghanistan is
not a solution, but a recipefor being there indefinitely. It's up to
the Afghans to make the decision aboutthe future of their country. Others are
more direct. Their argument is thatwe should stay with the Afghan in Afghanistan
(07:46):
and definitely and doing so. Theypoint to the fact that we have not
taken losses in this last year,so they claim that the cost of just
maintaining the status co was minimal.But that ignores the reality and the facts
that already presented on the ground inAfghanistan. When I took office, the
(08:07):
Taliban was that his strongest is atits strongest militarily. Since two thousand and
one, the number of US forcein Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare
minimum, and the United States andthe last administration made an agreement that they
with the Taliban and remove all ourforces by May one of this pest of
this year. That's what I inherited. That agreement was the reason that Taliban
(08:31):
had ceased major attacks against US forces. If in April I had instead announced
that the United States was going toback going back on that agreement, maybe
by the last administration the United Statesand allied forces remained in Afghanistan for the
foreseeable future, the Taliban would haveagain begun to target our forces. The
(08:52):
status quo was not an option.Stain would have met US troops taking casualties
American men and women back in themiddle of a civil war, and we
would run the risk of having tosend more troops back in Afghanistan to defend
our remaining troops. Once that agreementwith the Taliban had been made, staying
(09:13):
with a bare minimum force was nolonger possible. So let me ask those
who wanted us to stay, howmany more how many thousands of more Americans
daughters and sons were you willing torisk? How long would you have them
stay? Already we have members ofour military whose parents fought in Afghanistan twenty
(09:35):
years ago? Would you send theirchildren and their grandchildren as well? Would
you send your own son or daughter? After twenty years, a trillion dollars
spent training and equipping hundreds of thousandsof afghanias security and defense forces, two
thousand, four hundred and forty eightAmericans killed, twenty thousand, seven hundred
(10:01):
and twenty two more wounded, anduntold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to
the mental health. I will notsend another generation Americans to war in Afghanistan
with no reasonable expectation of achieving adifferent outcome. The United States cannot afford
to remain tethered to policies creating aresponse to a world as it was twenty
(10:26):
years ago. We need to meetthe threats where they are today. Today,
the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan, so we are repositioning our resources
and adapting our counter terrorism posture tomeet the threats where they are now significantly
(10:46):
higher in South Asia, the MiddleEast, and Africa. But make no
mistake, our military and intelligence leadersare confident they have the capabilities to protect
the homeland and our interests from anyresurgent terrorist challenge in merging or emanating from
Afghanistan. We are developing a counterterrorism over the horizon capability that will allow
(11:11):
us to keep our eyes firmly fixedand any direct threats to the United States
in the region, and act quicklyand decisively if needed. We also need
to focus on shoring up America's corestrengths to meet the strategic competition with China
and other nations that is really goingto determine determine our future. We have
(11:33):
to defeat COVID nineteen at home andaround the world. Make sure we're better
prepared for the next pandemic or biologicalthreat. We need to establish international norms
for cyberspace and the use of emergingtechnologies. We need to take concerted action
to fight existential threats of climate change, and we will be more formidable to
(11:56):
our adversaries and competitors over the longrun if we fight the battles of the
next twenty years, not the lasttwenty years. Finally, I want to
recognize the incredible sacrifice and dedication thatthe US military and civilian personnel serving alongside
our allies and partners have made overthe last two decades in Afghanistan. I
(12:18):
want to honor the significance of whatthey've accomplished and the great personal risk they
encountered and incredible cost to their familiespursuing the terrorist threat to some of the
most unforgiving terrain on the planet.I've been almost throughout that entire country ensuring
(12:41):
there hasn't been another attack on thehomeland from Afghanistan for the last twenty years,
taking out Bin Laden. I wantto thank you all for your service
and the dedication to the mission somany of you have given, and to
the sacrifice is that you and yourfamilies have made over the long course of
(13:03):
this war, We'll never forget thosewho gave the last full measure of devotion
for their country in Afghanistan are thosewhose lives have been immeasurably older by wounds
sustained in the service of the country. We're ending America's longest war, but
we'll always always honor the bravery ofthe American patriots who served it. May
(13:28):
God bless you all, and mayGod protect our troops. Thank you.
Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan nowinevitable? No, it is not.
Because you have the Afghan troops havethree hundred thousand well equipped as well as
(13:52):
corippt as any army in the world, and an air force against something like
seventy five thousand Taliban. It isnot inevitable. You trust the Taliban,
mister President, You trust the talibanser? Is that a serious question? Absolutely
a serious question. You trust theTaliban? O? I do not the
(14:16):
Taliban. No, I do nottrust the Taliban. Applify that question.
Will you applify your answer, please? Chris, A silly question. Do
I trust the Taliban? No?But I trust the capacity of the Afghan
military, who was better trained,better equipped, and more more competent in
(14:41):
terms of conducting war. Yes,ma'am. Thank you, mister President,
given the amount of money that hasbeen spent, in the number of lives
that have been lost, in yourview, with making this decision, were
the last twenty years worth it?You know my record. I can tell
by the way you asked the question. I opposed permanently having American forces in
(15:09):
Afghanistan. I argued from the beginning. As you may recall, it came
to light after the administration was overlasted our administration, no nation has ever
unified Afghanistan. No nation empires havegone there and not done it. The
(15:35):
focus we had and I strongly supported, and you may remember I physically went
to Afghanistan. I was up inthat past where Osama bin Laden was allegedly
escaped or out of harm's way.We went for two reasons. One to
(16:00):
bring Osama bin Laden to the gatesof Hell, as I said at the
time. The second reason was toeliminate Al Qaida's capacity to deal with more
attacks in the United States from thatterritory. We accomplished both of those objectives
(16:22):
period. That's what I believe fromthe beginning why we should be and why
we should have gone to Afghanistan.That job had been over for some time,
and that's why I believe that thisis the right decision and quite frankly
overdue. Mister President, thank youvery much. Your own intelligence community has
(16:52):
assessed that the Afghan government will likelycollapse. That's is it. Can you
please clarify what they have told youabout whether that will happen or not.
That is not true. They didnot reach that conclusion. What is the
level of confidence that they have thatit will not collapse? The Afghan government
(17:15):
and leadership has to come together.They clearly have the capacity to sustain the
government in place. The question iswill they generate the kind of cohesion to
do it. It's not a questionof whether they have the capacity. They
have the capacity, they have theforces, they have the equipment. The
(17:37):
question is will they do it?And I want to make clear, but
I make clear to Gani that weare not going to walk away and not
sustain their ability to maintain that force. We are We're going to also work
to make sure we help them interms of everything from food necessities and other
things in the region. But thereis not a conclude that in fact they
(18:00):
cannot defeat the Tulliban. I believethe only way there's going to be this
is not Joe Biden, not theintelligence community. The only way there's all
going to be peace in security Afghanistanis that they work out a modus le
vendi with the Taliban and they makea judgment as to how they can make
peace. And the likely there's goingto be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling
(18:23):
the whole country is highly unlikely.It's hard than to thank you, but
we have talked to your own topgeneral in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.
He told ABC News the conditions areso concerning at this point that it could
result in a civil war. Soif cobble falls to the Taliban, what
will the United States do about it? Look, you've said two things.
(18:48):
One that if it could result ina civil war, that's different than the
Taliban succeeding number one. Number two, the question of what will be done
is going to be implicated and canimplicate the entire region as well. There's
a number of countries of a graveconcern about what's going to happen in Afghanistan
(19:10):
relative to their security. The questionis how much of a threat to the
United States of America and to ourallies is whatever results in terms of a
government or an agreement, that's whenthat judgment will be made. As President,
some some Vietnamese veterans see echoes oftheir experience in this withdrawal in Afghanistan.
(19:34):
Do you see any parallels between thiswithdrawal and what happened in Vietnam?
With some people feeling well, nonewhatsoever? Zero? What you had is
yet entire brigades breaking through the gatesof our embassy. Six. If I'm
not mistaken, the Taliban is notthe south of the North Vietnamese Army.
They're not. They're not remotely comparablein terms of capability. There's gonna be
(19:59):
no circumstance. You see people beinglifted off the roof of a embassy in
the of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comfortable.
Yes, to the other side,hanging on second, President, how serious
was the corruption among the Afghanistan governmentto this mission failing there? Well,
(20:22):
First of all, the mission hasn'tfailed yet. There is in Afghanistan and
all parties, there's been corruption.The question is can it be an agreement
on unity of purpose? What isthe objective. For example, it started
(20:42):
off there were going to be negotiationsbetween the Taliban and the Afghanistic security forces
and the Afghan government that that didn'tcome to didn't come to fruition. So
the question now is where where dothey go from here? That the jury
(21:03):
is still out, but the likelihoodthere's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything
and owning the whole country is highlyunlikely. Yes, ma'am, we the
United States he responsible for the lossof Afghan civilian lives that could happen after
the military as No, No,it's up to the people of Afghanistan decide
(21:25):
on what government they want, notus to impose the government on them.
No country has ever been able todo that. Keep in mind, as
a student of histories, I'm sureyou are never as Afghanistan been a united
country, not in all of itshistory, not in all of its history.
(21:45):
A mission accomplished moment, there's nomission accomplished. The mission was accomplished
in that we get a scott Osamabin Laden and terrorism is not emanating from
that part of the world. It'sa president rede in safety. As you
just said in your remarks, areyou satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan
(22:07):
nationals. Is it happening quickly enoughto your satisfaction? If it may not
happen until next month, at theend, much of us already happened.
There's already been people. About athousand people have gotten on aircraft coming the
United States already on commercial aircraft.So, as I said, there's over
twenty five hundred people that as fromJanuary to now have gotten those visas and
(22:30):
only half decided that they wanted toleave. The point is that I think
the whole process has to be speededup period in terms of being able to
get these visas. Why can't theUS evacuate these Afghan translators to the United
States to await their visa processing assome immigrants of the southern border law doesn't
(22:51):
allow that to happen, And that'swhy we're asking the Congress to consider changing
the law. But in the meantime, we can guarantarantee their safety if they
wish to leave by taking the thirdcountries and or while the weight is taking
place to come to uh To andhopefully while they're waiting there to be able
to bring them back to the UnitedStates. And that's what they choose to
(23:14):
do good message for Afghan woman infuture because they have achievement. They are
really concerned about their achievement. Theyare very concerned with good reason. When
I was in Afghanistan, I've beenthere a number of times. I remember
being in a school outside and Uhand by the way, the schools in
(23:40):
Afghanistan are not fundamentally like schools inthe West coast, where they have you
know, an area in the middlethat is sort of like looks like a
playground and single story buildings are connectedaround it. And I remember saying to
speaking to a group of young women, I guess they're roughly holdingess. They
(24:03):
look like they'd be fourteen, fifteenyears old, and they're in school and
there's a tiered classroom with single lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling, as I
know, you know, And Isaid, you know, the United States
came here to make sure that wegot this terrorist or some of bin Laden
(24:23):
and that terrorists did in the massagain to go after our country, and
then we're going to have to leave. And a young woman said, you
can't leave, you can't leave it. It was heartbreaking. You can't leave.
She said, I want to bea doctor. I want to be
a doctor. I want to bea doctor. If you leave, I'll
never be able to be a doctor. Well, that's why we spent so
(24:45):
much time and money training the Afghansecurity forces to do the work of defending
that if every work lineymite, So, yes, I'm aware. I'm going
to tell you one more question becausethe Taliban Russia today, Mister President,
(25:08):
I thank you. I wanted toask, with the benefit of hindsight,
you've spoken to the fact that theThalibon are sort of at their militarily strongest
point that you've seen in twenty years. How do you feel personally about that,
with the benefit of hindsight and allof the dollars in investments and American
troops that were sent there, relativeto the training and capacity of the a
(25:30):
n SF and the train the federalpolice, they're not even close in terms
of their capacity. I was makingthe point. The point was that here
we were. I was the argumentis, well, we could stay because
no one was dying, No Americansare being shot, so why leave?
Once the agreement was made by thelast administration, we were going to leave
(25:52):
by May first. It was veryclear that a tally bond that had always
been a problem. Was he bea more sophisticated problem than they were than
before, not more sophisticated than theansf than government more than they were,
the point being that it would haveincreased the prospect that they would have been
able to take more lives of Americansif they decided we weren't going to go
(26:17):
after him. That was the pointI was making. Thank you all so
very much. Talman officials on thewithdrawal
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.