President Joe Biden is expected to say he is not planning on passing the war in Afghanistan to a fifth president.
In a speech on Wednesday, Biden will say, “I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth,” according to an advance excerpt.
The president will also say, “We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result.”
He is expected to discuss how the United States “went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago,” but it “cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.”
"I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," Biden will say in a speech this afternoon, per advance excerpt. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth."
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) April 14, 2021
"We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago," Biden will say in his speech this afternoon. "That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021."
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) April 14, 2021
joe biiBiden received criticism for his planned announcement of the withdrawal U.S. forces from Afghanistan from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), as IJR reported.
Graham said in a statement on Tuesday, “It is a disaster in the making. A full withdrawal from Afghanistan is so irresponsible, it makes the Biden Administration policies at the border look sound.”
He continued, “A full withdrawal from Afghanistan is dumber than dirt and devilishly dangerous. President Biden will have, in essence, canceled an insurance policy against another 9/11. A residual counterterrorism force would be an insurance policy against the rise of radical Islam in Afghanistan that could pave the way for another attack against our homeland or our allies.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the move a “grave mistake” and “a retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished.”
He explained, “Foreign terrorists will not leave the U.S. alone because our politicians have grown tired of taking the fight to them.”
McConnell also called on Biden “to explain to the American people why he thinks abandoning our partners and retreating in the face of the Taliban will make America safer.”