Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal that ended in catastrophe and insists ‘history’ will prove he was right

President Joe Biden emphasized that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a foreign policy victory as he delivered a State Department closing address Monday afternoon.

The erratic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 sent Biden’s poll numbers plummeting for the remainder of his term.

Critics – including newly elected President Donald Trump – said it encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine six months later.

“There is nothing – I can tell you from my conversations with both Xi and Putin – nothing that our adversaries and competitors – like Russia and China – would like more than for us to remain tied up in Afghanistan for another decade,” Biden argued. Monday.

“For all these reasons, ending the war was the right thing to do,” the president said. “And I believe history will reflect that.”

He boasted to the crowd — made up of Cabinet members and State Department officials — that he would be the “first president in decades not to leave a war in Afghanistan to his successor.”

The president noted that September 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was captured during the “Obama-Biden administration,” meaning that “the primary goal of the war had been achieved.”

“In my opinion, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home. And we did that,” Biden said.

A U.S. Marine grabs a child from the crowd below during the frantic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2011. The withdrawal dented President Joe Biden’s approval ratings for the remainder of his term.

He pointed out that he carried a card with him every day that showed the number of military deaths caused by the war.

“We mourn all 2,461 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the longest war in American history. And I mourn those brave soldiers whose lives were lost during the withdrawal,” the president also said.

Thirteen U.S. service members were killed on August 26, 2021, when a suicide bomber set off an explosion outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, where fleeing Afghans had gathered.

In addition to the loss of American military personnel, Biden argued that it was a good decision because the war was costing “hundreds of millions of dollars a day.”

“Remember, critics said ending the war would damage our alliances and threaten our homeland through foreign-targeted terrorism from a safe haven in Afghanistan,” Biden said. “Neither happened.”

The perpetrator of the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans was inspired by ISIS – not Al Qaeda, Bin Laden’s group that operated from Afghanistan and was behind September 11.

The war in Afghanistan began after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The withdrawal took place in August 2021 – ahead of the twentieth anniversary of 9/11.

President Joe Biden (left) responds to applause as he is greeted by State Department and other administration officials at the Department of State headquarters in DC, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right)

More broadly, Biden boasted Monday that some of America’s biggest enemies — namely Russia and Iran — had been weakened during four years of the Democrat’s foreign policy.

“Today I can report to the American people that our adversaries are weaker than where we came into office four years ago,” Biden said.

“Just think about Russia,” he continued. “Putin has invaded Ukraine. He thought he would conquer Kiev in a few days. The truth is that since the beginning of the war, I am the only one who has stood in the center of Kiev, not him.”

Biden made a surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital in February 2023.

During his remarks at the State Department, he chuckled because it was a “long train journey.”

“I am the only commander-in-chief who has been in a war zone not controlled by American forces,” he boasted.

“All told, Iran is weaker than it has been in decades,” Biden also boasted.

He detailed how the country’s air defenses were in “a mess” and how Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy, was “severely injured.”

Biden said he could not take all the credit for weakening Iran.

‘They have caused a lot of damage themselves. But Israel has done a lot of damage to Iran and its allies. But there is no doubt that our actions have contributed significantly and now major authoritarian states are aligning more closely with each other – Iran, Russia, China, North Korea – but that is more out of weakness than strength,” Biden said.

“So as the new administration begins, the United States is in a fundamentally stronger position vis-à-vis these countries than it was four years ago,” he said.

Biden will leave office in just a week, with Trump being sworn in at noon on January 20.

With Trump, there will be an “America first” foreign policy agenda – as the Republican has viewed multilateral coalitions such as the United Nations and NATO with skepticism.

Biden encouraged the State Department and other foreign policy professionals from his administration to stay on.

“I’ve put together one of the most competent foreign policy teams in American history, I would say,” the outgoing 82-year-old president said.