WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – Former President of the United States (US) Barack Obama commented on the US government’s latest decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
The first black US president praised US President Joe Biden’s “courageous leadership” in taking steps to end the US war in Afghanistan.
This war dragged on for nearly two decades and took place in many of the US administration’s leadership.
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Biden plans to withdraw all US troops currently deployed to Afghanistan on September 11, 2021. This will mark 20 years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“I am now the fourth American president to lead the American troop presence in Afghanistan,” Biden said in remarks Wednesday (14/4/2021) at the White House Agreement Room announcing the move.
The 45th U.S. president vowed “not to pass on this responsibility to a fifth.”
According to him, even if we are not involved in Afghanistan militarily, US diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue. The goal is to support Afghan security forces and the people against the Taliban.
“This is a long and difficult struggle in Afghanistan, rooted in our response to the deadliest terrorist attack on the US homeland in our history,” Obama said. Business Insider.
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Obama said troops and diplomatic workers “can be proud of their efforts to provide justice for 9/11, destroy al Qaeda’s safe haven. Including training the Afghan Security Forces, and supporting the Afghan people at the same time.”
The US invasion of Afghanistan, which was then called Operation Enduring Freedom, was launched in October 2001. To be precise, it was only a few weeks after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The objective of this mission is to destroy the terror group siding with the Taliban behind the attack. Al-Qaeda, and its leader Osama Bin Laden.
U.S. forces killed bin Laden in a 2011 attack during Obama’s first term in office. But his government did not succeed in ending the presence of U.S. forces in the country.
In his 2020 memoir, “A Promised Land,” Obama wrote that “it was relatively easy to find a way out for Iraq. But the conditions are very different for Afghanistan.”
“Unlike the war in Iraq, to me the war in Afghanistan always seemed necessary,” he wrote.
Obama relates how, at the start of his presidency in 2009. He was asked to authorize a request from the International Security Assistance Force for the deployment of 30,000 US troops, which was first proposed under the Bush administration.
Of all the top officials in his administration, Obama said “only Joe Biden voiced his doubts” to approve the addition of troops in a meeting in the Situation Room.
Obama even said that Biden “saw Afghanistan as a dangerous swamp.”
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At the end of the meeting, Obama said Biden told him: “Listen to me, boss. Maybe I have been in this administration too long, but one thing I do know is, when these generals are trying to compete with the new president.”
“Don’t let them bother you,” he added.
Currently, the US has about 2,500 troops deployed to the country, as an additional force from US allied forces that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In all, more than 2,300 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.
On Wednesday (4/14/2021), NATO announced they were also planning to withdraw allied forces from Afghanistan with the US.
Obama assessed that there will be further very difficult challenges ahead in Afghanistan. For that, the US must remain diplomatically involved and strive to develop, to support the people of Afghanistan. Especially for those who have taken extraordinary risks in the name of human rights.
“But after nearly two decades of putting our troops in danger, it is time to recognize that we have achieved everything we can militarily, and that it is time to bring our remaining troops home.”
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