Defensive Biden tries to put Afghanistan behind him
| A defensive President Biden sought to move on from the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday, with a White House speech marking the end of the 20-year war.
Biden insisted that the evacuation operation had been a “success” and pushed back hard against critics who have argued for an ongoing but modest American military presence. The president also sought to reframe the underlying argument. He asserted that the U.S. had no “vital interest” in Afghanistan that had been left unaccomplished, given that Osama bin Laden had been killed in neighboring Pakistan a decade ago and al-Qaeda had been long ago weakened. Still, some of Biden’s claims strained credulity, especially his implication that the U.S. withdrawal had gone broadly to plan. |
