Afghanistan tested US’ capability to counter extremism and export democracy

Anju Gupta

Sharing his diagnosis about the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Biden said that ‘Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight’. He was clear that the ‘American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. We spend over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong—incredibly well equipped—a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies. We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force—something the Taliban doesn’t have. Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.’

He added, ‘It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not. If the political leaders of Afghanistan were unable to come together for the good of their people, unable to negotiate for the future of their country when the chips were down, they would never have done so while U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan bearing the brunt of the fighting for them.’

About the future, Biden said that ‘we will continue to support the Afghan people. We will lead with our diplomacy, our international influence, and our humanitarian aid. We’ll continue to push for regional diplomacy and engagement to prevent violence and instability. We’ll continue to speak out for the basic rights of the Afghan people, not the periphery. But the way to do it is not through endles