Stand squarely behind Afghanistan pull-out: Joe Biden

Washington, Aug 17: US President Joe Biden has defended his decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan, even after Taliban forces took Kabul, creating chaos in the war-torn country.

"I stand squarely behind my decision," said Biden adding that "After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces."

Speaking on Afghan situation, Biden said he faced a choice between an agreement to withdraw US forces or send thousands more US troops back in for a "third decade" of war. Biden said he will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Closely monitoring situation in Afghanistan

"My national security team and I have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency and contingency including the rapid collapse we are seeing now," said Biden.

"We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on September 11, 2001-and make sure al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again," Biden said.

"We did that-a decade ago. Our mission was never supposed to be nation building," he added.

"Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building or to be creating a unified, centralised democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland," Biden said.

"I've argued for many years that our mission should be narrowly focused on counter-terrorism, not counter insurgency or nation-building," he said.

"We conduct effective counter-terrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where we don't have a permanent military presence. If necessary, we will do the same in Afghanistan," Biden further said.

Afghan political leaders were unable to come together

Joe Biden argued that Afghan troops' failure to defend their country demonstrates why it was the correct course of action to move forward with the US troop withdrawal.

"It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan's own armed forces would not," Biden said.

Swift action, if US personnel attacked

Biden warned that the US would carry out a "swift and forceful" response if the Taliban attacked US citizens or attempted to disrupt evacuation efforts in Kabul.

"We will defend our people with devastating force, if necessary," Biden said.

I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth US President: Biden

Biden said that he will not pass America's war in Afghanistan to a fifth president.

with PTI inputs