US President stand by his decision of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan

US President, Joe Biden, noted that he stands by his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan and blamed leadership in Afghanistan for giving in to the Taliban without any retaliation.

Key Points

• Joe Biden while addressing the nation noted that, he learnt after 20 years that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces. America was clear about the risks and accordingly planned for every contingency. So, ending US military involvement in Afghanistan was the right decisions.
• He noted that, American troops cannot be left dying in war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for their country.

US training to Afghan troops

Biden highlighted, US has spent over a trillion dollars for training and equipping Afghan military force (300,000 or more in number).  This force is incredibly well equipped and larger in size than militaries of many of the NATO allies. America also paid their salaries and provided aid for maintenance of their air force.

Why US withdrew from Afghanistan?

1. US decided to withdrew troops from Afghanistan following a costly and prolonged military intervention in the Middle East. US realised that, it can’t fix centuries-old conflicts there.
2. Promise to end America’s “endless wars” was the central themes of former US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
3. US now consider China as revisionist power that can challenge US’ hegemony across the world. Thus, US now wants to shift its military, political and diplomatic resources from Middle east to Indo-pacific region.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2021