US national security adviser: Biden ‘stands by’ withdrawal from Afghanistan

By AP 16 August 2021, 3:05 pm

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Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint on the road to the Afghan foreign ministry, in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

WASHINGTON — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the failure of the Afghan military is to blame for the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan.

Sullivan says American President Joe Biden didn’t want the US to enter a “third decade of conflict” in Afghanistan and believed it was time for the Afghan army to defend the country two decades after billions of dollars of investment and training by the US.

But Sullivan says, “we could not give them the will and ultimately they decided that they would not fight for Kabul.”

He adds that the “worst-case scenario” for the US would be to send thousands of troops to fight in a civil war when the Afghan army “wasn’t prepared to fight itself.”

Sullivan says Biden faced “bad choices” on the subject. The president ultimately opted to bring US troops home and leave the Afghans to fight for themselves.

He says “it’s heartbreaking” to see what’s happening in Kabul but that Biden “stands by” his decision.

Sullivan speaks on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today.”