WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said Wednesday he would withdraw remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying the Sept. 11 attacks “can’t explain” why U.S. forces should being there 20 years after the deadliest terrorist assault in the United States.
His plan is to remove all U.S. forces, which already have 2,500, by this September 11, anniversary of the attacks, coordinated from Afghanistan.
The United States cannot continue to pour resources into an intractable war and expect different results, Biden said.
The withdrawal would begin rather than end on May 1, which has been the deadline for full withdrawal under a peace deal the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year.
“It’s time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said, but added that the United States “will not rush to the exit.”
“We cannot continue the cycle of expanding or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan in the hope of creating the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, awaiting a different outcome,” Biden said. “I am now the fourth president of the United States to preside over the presence of US troops in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth ”.
The decision is perhaps the most important foreign policy decision for Biden in the early years of his presidency.
He has long been skeptical about the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. As Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden was a lone voice in the administration that advised the 44th president to lean toward a smaller terrorist role in the country while military advisers urged the accumulation of troops to counter the Taliban gains. Biden has also made it clear that he wants to recalibrate U.S. foreign policy to meet greater challenges posed by China and Russia.
The withdrawal of all American troops carries clear risks. It could boost the Taliban’s effort to regain power and undo the gains made in the last two decades towards democracy and women’s rights. It also opens Biden to criticism, mostly Republicans and some Democrats, though former President Donald Trump had also wanted a total withdrawal.
“This administration has decided to abandon U.S. efforts in Afghanistan that have helped control radical Islamic terrorism,” said Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. “And, strangely enough, they have decided to do so before 9/11.”
Although Biden’s decision keeps U.S. forces in Afghanistan four months longer than initially planned, it ends two decades of war that killed more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers, wounded 20,000 and cost up to $ 1 trillion.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he spoke with Biden on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. president’s speech.
“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan respects the decision of the United States and we will work with our American partners to ensure a smooth transition,” Ghani said in a Twitter post.
Biden consulted with allies, military leaders, lawmakers and Vice President Kamala Harris to help make his decision. White House press secretary Jen Psaki added that Biden also spoke with “some of his predecessors” at the White House and that administration officials contacted 44 officials from other countries. NATO, the European Union and the United Nations in recent days.
He stresses that his administration will continue to support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban and will assist international efforts to form the Afghan army.
After his speech, Biden was to visit section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery to honor the dead in the latest American conflicts.
CIA Director William Burns acknowledged at a hearing Wednesday that the U.S. capacity to contain the terrorist threat in Afghanistan has benefited from the military presence there and that, when that presence is withdrawn, it will “decrease the ability of the U.S. government to pick up and act on threats. “
“That’s just a fact,” Burns said. “It is also a fact, however, that after the withdrawal, whenever that time comes, the CIA and all our partners in the United States government will retain a set of capabilities, some of which will remain in place, some of them the ones we will generate, which can help us anticipate and respond to any reconstruction efforts. ”
A senior government official said the September withdrawal date was an absolute deadline that would not be affected by security conditions in Afghanistan.
The long-running conflict has largely paralyzed al-Qaeda and killed Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. But a U.S. withdrawal also risks many of the gains in democracy, women’s rights and governance, while ensuring that the Taliban, who provided al-Qaeda’s refuge, remain strong and control large areas of the country.
As Biden announced his decision, his top national security aides were in consultation in Brussels on Wednesday to coordinate the withdrawal of the alliance from Afghanistan with the planned withdrawal of American troops.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with senior officials from the 30-member alliance to discuss NATO’s future presence in Afghanistan in light of the announcement of the withdrawal from the United States that Biden was to make later.
Blinken said he hoped the Allies would withdraw together, but said neither the U.S. nor NATO would leave the country despite the impending withdrawal. There are approximately 7,000 NATO forces still in Afghanistan, in addition to the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops.
“Together, we went into Afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us and to make sure that Afghanistan was no longer a haven for terrorists who could attack any of us,” Blinken said.
___ Lee reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Alexandra Jaffe contributed to the information.