US Deeply Concerned about Taliban Advancement in Afghanistan – Pentagon Spokesman

John Kirby, the spokesperson of the Pentagon, said that the United States sees the Taliban insurgence in Afghanistan with deep concern after the quick evacuation of American forces from the country as President Joe Biden orders for the withdrawal. Kirby told the Fox News Sunday show that it is time for Afghan government forces to come up and defend their country.

During approximately the last twenty years, the United States supplied the Afghan government with billions of dollars in weaponry to defend the country from the Taliban. Still, with Biden’s announcement of withdrawing American troops from the country by 31st August, the control and peace of the country are increasingly uncertain. According to Taliban insurgents, they already control eighty-five percent of the country, a disputed claim from their side.

However, Kirby didn’t dispute a Fox News evaluation that thirteen million Afghan citizens live under Taliban control, ten million under Afghan government rule, and nine million in contested regions. Along with its allied forces, America attacked Afghanistan in 2001 to overrun bases where al-Qaida terrorists trained to launch the 11th September 2011 hijacked airliner attacks on World Trade Center of New York and the Pentagon that killed approximately three thousand people.

Kirby said that even with the pulling out of American troops from the country, the U.S. commanders would able to advise Afghan forces from bases in other countries. However, the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces mostly left Afghanistan already. The remaining withdrawal will be made by August end. Last week, the U.S. president staunchly defended the American troop withdrawal, even in the face of advances of the Taliban.

America can’t Build Nation in Afghanistan

At the White House, Biden said that America didn’t go to Afghanistan to build the nation. It is the only responsibility and right of the Afghan people to decide their future and how they want to run their country. The president described the troop withdrawal as happening in a secure and arranged way. Some days ago, American forces vacated the key Bagram Airfield.

Biden also committed to speedily evacuate several Afghan translators and their families who worked for them during the prolonged war. For this purpose, the president said that they dramatically accelerated the processing of special immigrant visas. In the same way, he stressed it was up to the Afghan administration to determine its own fate.

It is up to the Afghan People to Decide their Future

Additionally, the Democratic U.S. president said that almost twenty years of experience revealed to them that the present security situation only confirms that only one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution but a formula for being there indefinitely. And it is up to the people of Afghan to decide the country’s destiny and future.

On the troop withdrawal, a reporter asked Biden whether he trusted the Taliban. He responded: is that a serious question? Further, he adds that it is a silly question. Afterward, he replied, “no.” He also said that he trusts the capacity of the Afghan military, which is better trained and competent than the Taliban in terms of conducting war.

.@PentagonPresSec: Over the last 20 years, we and our allies have helped build a capacity inside the ANDSF which is impressive. They have an air force – a competent air force – the Taliban has none. They have more forces in the field than what we estimate the Taliban to have. pic.twitter.com/cqlvLHkbo8

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) July 8, 2021

Former U.S. President Donald Trump previously announced that he would withdraw all troops by 1st May, which Biden said was too quick. However, Biden said he was the 4th American president to preside over U.S. forces in Afghanistan and that he wouldn’t hand the responsibility to a 5th president.

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