President Joe Biden defended the US pullout of Afghanistan Monday, saying he stood by the policy and that it was time to leave after 20 years of conflict.
“I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” Biden said in a national address.
“I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces,” he said in a televised address from the White House. He added that the US national interest in Afghanistan was always principally about preventing terrorist attacks from the war-torn nation on the US homeland.
“The mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building,” he said. He acknowledged that the Afghan government collapsed more quickly than he expected even as he defended his decision to withdraw troops.
