Biden Does not Regret the Decision to Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan

There will not be a good time to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Joe Biden said, defending his decision. He stated that he did not want the Americans to continue to fight in an endless civil war. US President Joe Biden issued a statement in which he called the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan correct and accused the Afghan authorities and military of a quick surrender. "After twenty years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces," he said on Monday, August 16, in Washington. Biden noted that he knows that he will be criticized for this decision, but he is not going to "pass it on to the next president." He stressed that the purpose of the US military presence in the region was never to build an Afghan nation, and he does not want to order American troops to fight "in an endless and foreign civil war." Biden agreed that the Taliban takeover was faster than anticipated, but blamed the country's political leadership, which "gave up and fled the country" and the Afghan military who "gave up, sometimes without trying to fight." US Army spokesman meets with Taliban Meanwhile, the head of the US Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, met with representatives of the radical Taliban in Doha and warned them of an immediate and harsh US response if the Taliban obstructed the evacuation of Americans from Kabul. According to a Pentagon spokesman, McKenzie gave the Taliban a "clear and unambiguous" warning. Germany also underestimated the speed of retaking German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also admitted on Monday that they had underestimated the speed with which events developed in Afghanistan, in which power has actually passed to the militants of the radical Islamic movement "Taliban". The head of the German government called the developments in Afghanistan "extremely bitter, dramatic and terrifying." She admitted that Berlin had misjudged the development of the situation, believing that they had more time to find a way out. Now, according to her, first of all, it is necessary to do everything possible to ensure the safety of compatriots, as well as local assistants who worked with the German government and non-governmental organizations in Germany.