Biden, in National Address, Defends Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Vows to Fight Terrorism

US President Biden defended the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline, saying it “was designed to save American lives.” Biden called the withdrawal, in which the US airlifted more than 120,000 people out of the country an “extraordinary success,” and vowed to help the 100 to 200 Americans remaining in Afghanistan, in an address to the nation on Tuesday, hours after the last US troops were airlifted from the country and the Taliban took control of the Hamid Karzai International Airport. “I was not going to extend this forever war and I was not extending a forever exit,” Biden said during his address from the White House, during which he repeatedly raised his voice and stabbed his finger in the air and on the lectern. Biden vowed that the United States would “maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries. We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it.” The president also paid tribute to the 13 soldiers killed in the final days of the evacuation, calling them “heroes.” Biden had made a campaign promise to withdraw from Afghanistan, and his predecessor cut a deal with the Taliban agreeing to a withdrawal by May, which extended to Tuesday. He has been criticized for leaving behind in Afghanistan American citizens, and possibly thousands of Afghans who helped US and NATO troops and media outlets over the last two decades.