President Joe Biden rejected the notion Thursday that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is inevitable once a complete U.S. military withdrawal is complete this summer. Still, the commander in chief, during a forceful explanation of his pullout plan, conceded it is “highly unlikely” the Afghan government retains “unified” control of its country.
Biden answered questions from reporters following remarks outlining the new Aug. 31 withdrawal completion target and said while he doesn’t “trust” the Taliban, he is confident the Afghan government and U.S.-trained security force there will be able to overcome the worse-equipped, smaller Taliban forces. Notably, however, the much larger and much better trained and equipped American and NATO force that has been there since months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks failed to do so in two decades of fighting.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES AFGHANISTAN MISSION WILL END BY AUG. 31, SOONER THAN PLANNED
Biden is taking a risk, both politically and in terms of security. On the former, a clear majority of people in the United States are ready for the country’s longest armed conflict, by far, to end. And on the latter, the Trump administration also had a plan for a complete withdrawal, and Biden is not ruling out sending American forces back in. He told reporters such a decision would be based on whether a civil war there or a Taliban return to power runs contrary to U.S. strategic interests.
The implication: Should the Taliban fight their way back to running the country, Washington might conclude that is acceptable — so long as it does not harbor extremist groups such as al Qaeda, the Islamic State group, or others that might plot attacks on the U.S., its interests abroad, or close allies.
But the focus when the president took questions after his prepared remarks was on the possibility that Taliban forces, which have been gaining ground as U.S. forces began to leave, might soon sack the capital.
“No, it is not,” Biden stated when asked about an “inevitable” Taliban takeover. “Because you have the Afghan troops, they’re 300,000 well-equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable.”
Later in the impromptu press conference, the president rejected reports claiming that U.S. intelligence assessments and top military officials in the country have determined the Taliban will take back power within a year — or sooner.
“That is not true,” Biden answered flatly to a question on the subject. “They did not reach that conclusion.”
He conceded that the Afghan government still “has to come together” but maintained that “they clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place.”
“The question is, will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it?” Biden continued. “There is not a conclusion that, in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban. I believe the only way there’s going to be — this is now Joe Biden, not the intelligence community — the only way there’s only going to be peace and security [in] Afghanistan, is that they work out a modus vivendi with the Taliban and they make a judgment as to how they can make peace.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Biden’s remarks and sometimes-testy Q&A in their entirety below.
