Secretary of State Antony Blinken defends the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying the terrorist threat has moved elsewhere and Washington must refocus its resources on challenges such as the Communist Party of China and the New Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
President Joe Biden announced last week that the U.S. will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this year.
The date of unconditional U.S. withdrawal is four months later than the deadline for last year’s agreement with the Taliban, an Afghan militia group, and peace talks between Taliban rebels and the Afghan government remain at an impasse.
CIA Director William Burns and former Army General David Petraeus, among other generals, have argued that withdrawal would leave Afghanistan deeper in violence and the U.S. less able to fight the terrorist threat.
Source: ABC News
The terrorist threat has moved elsewhere, and we have other very important projects to do, including relations with China, from climate change to epidemics,” Buerken told ABC’s “This Week” today. “
“Those are where our energy and resources must be focused.”
Buerken met last week with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and top U.S. officials in Kabul to inform them of Biden’s 14-day announcement of a troop withdrawal.
Buerken told ABC that the U.S. has “accomplished what we wanted to accomplish” and that “Al-Qaeda is now much less capable of attacking the United States from Afghanistan.
Recent Comments