08/16/2021 17:23
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/16/2021 5:26 PM
The takeover of the government of Afghanistan by
the Taliban
and after the dramatic images at the Kabul airport, the president of the United States, Joe Biden,
interrupted his vacation
to fly to the White House and give a message about the conflict that deepened in recent days.
"The security team and I are going to be monitoring the situation and we are executing the plan we have to respond to
all kinds of contingencies, including the rapid collapse
that we are seeing now," Biden began at the White House.
He then said that the US "will act swiftly" against terrorism in Afghanistan "if necessary."
At the same time, Biden said he "firmly" stands by his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.
And he admitted that Afghanistan fell faster than expected to the Taliban.
"We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear objectives: that those who attacked us on September 11, 2001 were brought to justice and that Afghanistan was not a place for Al Qaeda. And we have achieved that Al Qaeda is much weaker "he continued.
"The mission was never to build a nation, it was never supposed that we were going to create a centralized democracy. What we were going to do in Afghanistan, and until now it has always been the objective, was to prevent a terrorist attack on US soil," said the president. from United States.
He added: "For many years, it has been argued that we were focused on counterterrorism and not on counterinsurgency or nation-building, which is why
I opposed in 2009 when I was vice president
."
"As president I am passionate that we focus on the threats we face today and not on those of the past. The terrorist threat has metastasized, beyond Afghanistan, to Somalia, Syria, ISIS trying to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq. , and to establish subsidiaries in countries of Africa and Asia ", remarked Biden.
After the images of the seizure of power in Kabul, the city of just over 4.4 million inhabitants, in a country where
more than 38 million people live.
Biden's words come in the midst of the Taliban's seizure of power in Kabul with a crisis that moved to the airport.
On Monday, the Pentagon reported that US forces killed two gunmen at the Kabul airport.
There were also deaths as a result of the avalanche, including a 14-year-old girl.
Three others died after grabbing onto the wings of the planes and falling into the void.
A US government spokesperson said that senior national security officials briefed Biden on the situation at the Kabul airport and "ongoing efforts to safely evacuate US citizens, US embassy personnel, and local personnel ( ...) and other vulnerable Afghans. "
With this information,
the Democratic president returned to Washington in the early afternoon after shortening his vacation at Camp David
, the rest residence of US presidents.
Chaos at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, after the Taliban seize power.
Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP.
He was scheduled to remain there until Wednesday, but the plan became untenable for the commander-in-chief of the US military in the face of the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
During his last public address on Afghanistan last Tuesday, Biden defended his decision to
withdraw the last of the US soldiers
by August 31, entrusting the fate of the country to a now defeated Afghan government and soldiers.
But in the face of the rapid seizure of power by the Taliban, on Saturday through a statement,
Biden announced that he would bring about
5,000 soldiers to the military deployment in Kabul
to ensure the evacuation of civilians.
Then he would announce another thousand more.
The international community canceled flights to the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power, when citizens tried to flee the country.
Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP
Concern in the media and criticism
All the American media, including those that had greeted his election with relief last November, speak of "disaster" (CNN), or of a Biden "on the defensive" (Washington Post).
"Whether seen as fair or unfair, history will recall that Joe Biden presided over the humiliating conclusion to the American experience in Afghanistan," after 20 years of war, the New York Times stated.
After the Taliban seized power, many Afghan citizens crowded into Kabul airport to flee the country.
Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP.
Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan is based almost entirely on a plan put in place by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, who ordered negotiations with the Taliban and, if re-elected, had been preparing a way out even earlier, starting on January 1. May 2021.
Trump took advantage of the conflict to shoot Biden, who beat him tightly in the elections.
"It is time for Joe Biden, discredited, to resign for having allowed what happened in Afghanistan," demanded on Sunday Trump, who on Monday multiplied his statements sent by email.
The Taliban regained power in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Photo: AFP
Source agencies
Look also
The Taliban triumph in Afghanistan: from the grave of great empires to global recomposition
The United States will send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the number of troops in the country to 7,000