The situation in Afghanistan continues to update: Biden defends the U.S. withdrawal arrangements and “will not hand over the responsibility to the next U.S. President”-BBC News

Biden returned to the White House from Camp David, the presidential holiday home, on Monday to deliver his first public speech on Afghanistan in nearly a week.

“If there is any difference, it is that the developments in the past week have further proved that it is the right decision to end the US military intervention in Afghanistan now,” Biden said. “The U.S. army cannot and should not fight and sacrifice in a war where the Afghan army is unwilling to fight for itself.”

In April of this year, Biden decided to order all US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan on September 11, the 20th anniversary of the “September 11” attack that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan. The turbulent situation in Kabul has given Biden a strong political backlash.

Senate Minority Leader and Republican Mitch McConnell wrote on Twitter: “What we have seen in Afghanistan is a total disaster. The Biden administration’s retreat will leave America’s reputation. stain.”

Former U.S. President George W Bush, who authorized a military strike against Afghanistan in 2001, stated that he “watches the tragedy in Afghanistan with deep sorrow.”

“The Afghans who are now at the greatest risk are those who have been at the forefront of their country’s progress,” Bush said. He stated that the United States has the “legal power to cut red tape for refugees during emergency humanitarian crises.”

Biden said in his speech that the US mission in Afghanistan should never be about nation-building.

He said that during his tenure as vice president, he opposed former President Barack Obama’s addition of thousands of soldiers to the country in 2009.

Biden also pointed out that he inherited the agreement negotiated between former President Trump (Donald Trump) and the Taliban that the United States will begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan before May of this year.

Biden said that he is now the fourth president to command the most protracted war in the United States, and he will not delegate this responsibility to the fifth president. “I will not mislead the American people, claiming that just staying in Afghanistan for a while will change everything.”

Biden was an experienced foreign policy expert during the campaign and announced that “the United States is back” after taking office this year.

Last month, he assured reporters that the Taliban was “very unlikely” to occupy the entire country of Afghanistan, but he admitted on Monday that “this is indeed faster than we expected.”

Polls show that most Americans support the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but after the rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops, many U.S. diplomats have not left, and the Taliban surrounded Kabul. Biden sent thousands of people back to help evacuate, so his evacuation method faced fierce criticism.

On the day the Taliban invaded Kabul, the entire city was enveloped in the roar of helicopters transporting diplomats. Helicopters took off and landed at the U.S. Embassy, ​​and pictures of evacuees were widely circulated on the Internet.

This reminds many people of a familiar scene.

At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, photographer Hulbert van Es took an iconic photo of people in Saigon climbing onto a helicopter from the roof.

The Vietnam War, which also lasted nearly 20 years, was a conflict between the Communist government of North Vietnam and South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States. This long war has plunged the United States into a quagmire and is costly. The war not only cost billions of dollars, it also claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans.

In 1973, the United States withdrew its troops from South Vietnam. Two years later, after the North Vietnamese army occupied Saigon, South Vietnam declared its surrender and became a unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the name of the late leader of North Vietnam.

Like Kabul, the city fell much faster than the United States expected. The United States abandoned its embassy in Saigon and evacuated more than 7,000 American citizens, South Vietnamese citizens and other foreign citizens by helicopter. This operation was called “Operation Frequent Wind” (Operation Frequent Wind).

For some, the fall of Saigon was a blow to America’s position on the world stage. In the decades that followed, the political term “Vietnam Syndrome” emerged, which refers to the aversion of American voters to American military intervention overseas.

When the fall of Saigon occurred, Biden was just a new senator, but now, many analysts and bipartisan lawmakers in the United States compare this incident with the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.

“This is Joe Biden’s Saigon,” Elise Stefanik, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said on Twitter. “This is a catastrophic failure on the international stage, and we will never forget it.”

Last month, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, refuted this comparison.

“I don’t think this will happen,” General Milly told reporters. “I may be wrong, who knows, you can’t predict the future, but… the Taliban is not a North Vietnamese army, the situation is different.”

Although the Saigon incident in 1975 had limited political influence on then President Gerald Ford, it is not clear how Biden will be affected this time. The Afghan War was not popular in the United States.

Christopher Phelps, an associate professor of American studies at the University of Nottingham, said: “I have no doubt that this will hurt Biden… This will be seen as a loss, and it may also be a shame, regardless of fairness and No, this is indeed his decision.”

After the Taliban captured Kabul, a large number of people tried to flee the country’s capital. Although commercial flights have been suspended, there are still many panicked people pouring into the airport.

Images on social media showed crowds running on the tarmac, and some even clinging to a US military transport plane that had been activated.

Another video showed someone falling from a take-off plane.

The US military claimed that two armed men were killed by American soldiers, while three reportedly fell from the bottom of the plane shortly after takeoff.

The US government stated that thousands of American citizens, local embassy staff and their families, and other “vulnerable Afghan citizens” will be transferred in the next few days.

BBC reporter Malik Mudassir reported in Kabul that it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 people at the airport. On the road leading to the airport gate, Taliban militants armed with heavy weapons tried to disperse the crowd by shooting into the air. .

In the urban area of ​​Kabul, Taliban personnel can be seen everywhere in Kabul. They control traffic and search vehicles, especially those vehicles that once belonged to the police and the army, which will be confiscated by the Taliban.

But Mudasi reported that the city center had become relatively calm the next day. Some women went out alone, but it seems that the Taliban did not take action against them. There was also no violence on the streets.

The Taliban announced on Tuesday (August 17) an “amnesty” for all government officials, urging them to return to work “with confidence”.

Previously, many people who worked for the government or organizations with Western backgrounds, such as translators in the US military, were very afraid of retaliation.

The Taliban were previously known for imposing cruel punishments and were accused of war crimes, but the organization denies this.