Afghans need to decide what they want for themselves – Biden

Joe Biden, United States president says Afghans need to decide the kind of future they want for their nation amid the current political upheaval.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Biden, however, affirmed that he stood by his decision, and was aware of the consequences of withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan inspite of the current political crisis in the country.

Over the weekend the Taliban consolidated their control over most parts of Afghanistan by seizing the country’s capital, taking over the presidential palace in Kabul.

President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country on Sunday as the Taliban entered the city, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

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Ashraf did not, however, disclose his location but reports claimed that he had flown to Tajikistan along with national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib and other close associates.

Biden said that there was no point in allowing American military personnel die while fighting for the Afghan people, if they are unwilling to defend themselves.

The US President added that America provided all the necessary resources for the Afghan military force to take its stand, adding that the South Asian country needs to decide what it wants for itself.

According to him, ”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. That’s why we’re still there. We were clear-eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency, but I always promised the American people that I would be straight with you.

“The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So, what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed sometimes without trying to fight. If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that any US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.

“American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”

According to Biden, “We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force with some 300,000 strong and credibly well-equipped — a force larger in size than many of our military’s NATO allies.

“We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their force something the Taliban doesn’t have. We provided close air support. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.”

On Monday scores of people were killed while there was chaos at Kabul airport as United States troops guarded the evacuation of embassy staff.

Several reports said multiple gunshots were heard at the airport, though it was not clear how many people were killed.