"There will never be a good time": Biden defends his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan

President Joe Biden addressed the nation Monday afternoon from the White House to address criticism from his rivals and political allies after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan over the weekend. 

White House officials are discussing how Biden should address the Taliban's rapid rise to power, an Administration source explained late Sunday, acknowledging that there is a sense that American society wants to hear from the president. 

"Our mission remains the same: to prevent a terrorist attack against the United States," Biden said Monday.

"As president I am absolutely focused on the challenge we face today, not yesterday's threats. Today the terrorist threat has metastasized ... We have bases in several countries, but no military presence. Perhaps we will do the same in Afghanistan."

Taliban supporters carry the characteristic white flags of the Taliban in the Pakistani-Afghan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, in July 2021. Tariq Achkzai / AP

"I fully support my decision. After 20 years. I learned the hard way that there will never be a good time and I withdrew US forces," the president continued.

"I think it is a mistake to send American forces to do the task that the Afghan forces cannot do."

Biden said Afghanistan had not been able to "come together for the good of its people." 

However, he assured that they would maintain a slight presence, especially diplomatic.

"We are going to continue defending basic rights in Afghanistan, as in the rest of the world."

How exactly the United States will accomplish that without a military presence remains unclear. 

Regarding the escalation of violence and the fall of several key cities to the Taliban, including the capital, Kabul, Biden said that he "makes it clear that no military presence" could fix the country's problems. I will not ask my troops to fight another country's civil war. "Still, the president said," we make it clear to the Taliban: if they attack or interrupt our operation, our response will be energetic and immediate. "

Biden was expected to remain Monday at the Camp David presidential residence, where he spent the weekend isolated from many of his top advisers and out of public view.

The only public image of him on Sunday was a photo released by the White House of him at an empty conference room table holding a conference call with his Homeland Security team.

[USA.

Evacuation of its embassy in Kabul culminates as chaos rages at the airport]

Meanwhile, Capitol Democrats and former Barack Obama administration officials joined Republicans in publicly criticizing Biden's handling of the situation. 

Although the majority agreed with the decision to withdraw the troops, they attacked the president's failure to drive the thousands of Afghans who aided US forces out of the country and evacuate US citizens before the arrival of the US troops. Taliban.

"This is a crisis of incalculable proportions. It is an intelligence failure," said Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, who urged Biden to address the nation for explanations.

The mood in the White House had turned gloomier in the past week, as it became clear that the Afghan military was being outscored by Taliban fighters across the country, a person close to home said.

Although the result was not necessarily unexpected, the speed with which the Taliban took control came as a surprise, he added.

["Blood on their hands": Republicans criticize Biden while Kabul remains at the mercy of the Taliban]

"Certainly the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated, including Afghans, including many of the analysts" monitoring the situation, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday on the show. TODAY from NBC.

Sullivan insisted that the United States stays the course and that American troops will not fight the Taliban again.

"I think the worst-case scenario for the United States would be a circumstance where we were adding thousands and thousands of troops again to fight and die in a civil war in Afghanistan, when the Afghan Army was not prepared to fight on its own," he said. .

The actions of the White House over the weekend showed how unprepared officials were by the rapid advance of the Taliban.

In the last 72 hours, the number of US military personnel on the ground has increased and is expected to reach 6,000 in the next few days.

The US embassy, ​​which the State Department had insisted Thursday would remain open, was fully evacuated Sunday afternoon.

"If you are wondering whether the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated faster than was anticipated and expected not only by us, by the way, but in general, I think the answer to that question is undeniably yes," he acknowledged on Monday. On MSNBC, Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.

[Biden announces that the US will leave Afghanistan on August 31 despite the risk of civil war and the resurgence of the Taliban]

Democratic strategists began to worry about the political fallout over the weekend.

Polls have shown that a majority of Americans supported Biden's plan to withdraw troops when he announced the decision in the spring.

But that sentiment could change with images of the rise of the Taliban just weeks after the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Over the weekend, a group of former Obama Administration officials publicly criticized the handling of the situation.

Ryan Crocker, Obama's former ambassador to Afghanistan, said the administration has had "a complete lack of coordinated, post-withdrawal planning" and called the current situation a "self-inflicted wound."

Taliban fighters stand guard outside Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.Rahmat Gul / AP

Former CIA director David Petraeus, who oversaw the forces in Afghanistan during the Obama administration, said that the Taliban takeover is "catastrophic" and a "huge setback for national security."

In addition, he warned that things will get much worse if the United States does not change course.

As American citizens were evacuated by air from the roof of the embassy to head to the Kabul airport and leave the country on military flights, Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, compared the scenes to the fall of Saigon, when the Americans were rescued. by helicopter from the roof of the embassy in 1975. Biden insisted last week that there would be no situation in Kabul comparable to Saigon.

[The war in Afghanistan "is an absolute failure", says a veteran before the new advance of the Taliban]

"Today feels like the fall of Saigon, I'm not going to lie," Dingell said.

In a written statement on Saturday, Biden said he was focusing his attention on ensuring that Americans were safely evacuated from the country and on expediting the visa process for Afghans who helped the United States and who are now targeted by the Taliban. .

They order the destruction of sensitive material from the US embassy in Afghanistan so that it does not fall into the hands of the Taliban

Aug. 14, 202100: 29

But he stood by his decision to withdraw US troops from the country and not hand over the conflict to a US president for the fifth time in a row.

"One more year, or five more years, of a US military presence would have made no difference if the Afghan Army is unable or unwilling to maintain its own country," Biden said in the statement.

"And an endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict was not acceptable to me," he reiterated.

With information from NBC News.