In his first media interview after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw and said it was impossible to withdraw US troops without falling into “mess”.
In an interview with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on August 18, Biden said he doesn’t know how to pull US troops out of Afghanistan without chaos.
When host Stephanopoulos asked Mr Biden if he thought the withdrawal could have been “handled in a better way”.
The President replied: “No. I don’t think it could be done in a better way – we’ll sit back and take a closer look, but the idea that there’s a way to pull out without getting into a mess, I don’t know how. how”.
“So for you, that means always having to pay the price of your decision to withdraw?” Host Stephanopoulos asked again.
“That’s right,” Biden replied.
Currently, US officials confirm that up to 10,000 Americans are still trapped in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the entire South Asian country.
The US Embassy in Kabul said on Wednesday that the US government could not guarantee a “safe path” for people to go to Kabul airport.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also told reporters on August 18 that the Taliban were checking the documents of Americans and Afghans so they could enter Kabul airport. With this statement, the Defense Minister indirectly confirmed that the US is depending on the Taliban to evacuate citizens.
Also in an interview with ABC News on August 18, Biden did not concede any failure to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
Earlier, during a press conference on Monday (August 16) at the White House, Mr. Biden emphasized that the Taliban had taken over Kabul more quickly than he had expected. At the same time, the Democratic president quickly turned to blame Afghanistan’s demise on the country’s military and government, as well as the Trump administration, for last year negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.
The blame continued to be repeated by Mr. Biden in an interview with ABC News on August 18. He said that despite the US pouring billions of dollars into weapons and training for many years, the Afghan government and army under President Ashraf Ghani lacked the will to fight the Taliban.
Ashraf Ghani fled before the Taliban captured the capital on Sunday (August 15). On Wednesday (August 18), the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirmed Mr. Ghani was seeking asylum in the country.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on the evening of August 18 issued a statement saying: “The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family to the country for immigration reasons. for humanitarian reasons”. The statement did not specifically mention where Mr Ghani currently lives.
