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U.S. hopes to conclude military mission in Afghanistan August 31
Mr Sullivan Joe Biden, Americas presidents national adviser said the drawdown of troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan is proceeding in a “secure and orderly way.”
America’s military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, has announced.
Mr Sullivan in an address Tuesday said the drawdown of troops in the war-ravaged country is proceeding in a “secure and orderly way.”
Responding to questions by journalists, Mr Sullivan said: “We believe that this can go until the 31st,” adding that they are talking to the Taliban about what the “exact timetable is for how this will all play out.”
Mr Sullivan said the Biden administration is faced with making “difficult choices in the context of the end of a 20-year war.”
Part of the choices, he said, is deciding what to do with Black Hawks and other equipment. “Those Black Hawks were not given to the Taliban,” he said.
“They were given to the Afghan National Security Forces to be able to defend themselves — at the specific request of President Ghani, who came to the Oval Office and asked for additional air capability, among other things.”
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“The president could not give it to them with the risk that it would fall into the Taliban’s hands eventually, or he could give it to them with the hope that they could deploy it in service of defending their country. Both of those options had risks; he had to choose. And he made a choice.”
Mr Sullivan added that they do not have a complete picture of where every article of defense materials has gone. “But certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban.”
“And obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.”
The decision to leave Afghanistan the way the U.S. did has infuriated diplomats and counterterrorism experts but the American president does not seem to care as he said he stands behind his decision.
According to the 46th American president, he could not justify an “endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict.”
READ ALSO: NATO soldier, 3 Afghan civilians killed in Taliban attack
“The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.” So American soldiers, the president said, “cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”
The U.S. has spent over a trillion dollars, trained a force of 300,000, paid their salaries, bought their gear, Mr Biden lamented.
“We gave them every chance to determine their own future,” he said. “What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.”
U.S., allied countries worried over rights of Afghan women, girls
Members of Taliban in Afghanistan’s president office
U.S. and allied countries, including the UK and European Union, have expressed deep concerns over the situation with women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan.
In a joint statement, they urged the authorities to guarantee their protection, State Department said on Wednesday.
“We are deeply worried about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work and freedom of movement.
“We call on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan, to guarantee their protection,” the statement said.
Besides the U.S., the statement was signed by Albania, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, European Union, Honduras, Guatemala, North Macedonia, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Senegal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
