Joe Biden broke the silence this Thursday evening to react to the attacks targeting American troops at Kabul airport earlier in the day, which killed 12 US troops and more than a dozen Afghan civilians. “It was the Daesh group that caused this attack which claimed the lives of many American and Afghan lives this evening,” he began in a very solemn tone. “These American servicemen who sacrificed their lives. They are heroes who have worked to save other lives. They were participating in an airlift that saved more than 100,000 people, including 7,000 in the last 12 hours, ”said the American president. “These soldiers are part of the bravest army in the world. The backbone of the United States for me, ”continued the White House tenant."Like the other soldiers who perished in this fight against terrorism, they are among the great heroes of American history."
"We are both outraged and saddened Jill (Editor's note, his wife) and me".
We know like others what the pain is when we lose a loved one, we feel this emptiness, this black hole in the middle of his chest, ”he also mentioned, referring to the death of one of his cancer. son who had served in Iraq, and suffered from after-effects.
"We will continue this mission"
Secondly, the “Commander-in-Chief” donned his warrior uniform. “We won't forgive, we won't forget. We are going to hunt you down and make you pay the price ”he hammered for the attention of the perpetrators of the attack, and his jihadist sponsors of the Islamic State. “We will create missions to attack terrorists at any time we choose. The United States will not be intimidated, ”he also clarified. "Today on three occasions I repeated to them (Editor's note, to the officers of the American army) that they had to do everything to protect our soldiers in Kabul" also wanted to explain the president who maintained the date of August 31 , as the deadline for the withdrawal from Afghanistan
The winner of Donald Trump also persisted in his reading of the situation, and his choice of rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I wanted our mission to be as short as possible, for these reasons linked to the danger due to terrorism.
We can and we must complete this mission.
We are not going to be deterred by terrorists.
We will continue this mission.
I trust our troops to save our Afghan allies.
He stressed, once again justifying his political choice.
Violent response from Trump and the Republicans
Some Democrats have criticized the US president in recent days for sticking to the August 31 deadline.
If some continue to call on the army to stay "as long as it takes", the majority of parliamentarians in his party are united behind Joe Biden.
On the Republican side, the tone is quite different. Parliamentarians jointly denounce his silence since the news of the attack fell in the morning and some close to Donald Trump even call, like him in recent days, Joe Biden to resign. "This tragedy should never have taken place, which makes our grief even deeper, and more difficult to understand," lamented the former Republican president in a statement.
When he was still president, Donald Trump had negotiated in February 2020 an agreement with the Taliban which provided for a total withdrawal of foreign forces even earlier, on May 1, 2021. Already against this announcement of withdrawal, the leader of the Republican minority in Senate Mitch McConnell thundered Thursday, “This deadly attack offers the clearest possible reminder that terrorists will not stop fighting the United States just because our policies tire of fighting them.
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"I remain worried that terrorists around the world will feel emboldened by our retreat, by this attack, and by the installation of a radical Islamist terrorist state in Afghanistan," added the influential Republican, after the attack claimed by the Islamic State group, which also injured fifteen American soldiers. House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday called on Democratic President Nancy Pelosi to urgently recall parliamentarians to Washington before August 31, to be briefed by the Biden administration on the situation in Kabul.
The House and Senate are on parliamentary recess until September. However, parliamentarians have been informed on several occasions in recent days by senior officials of Joe Biden's administration and the various parliamentary committees "will continue to organize briefings on Afghanistan," according to Nancy Pelosi.