The attacks at Kabul airport do not change President Biden’s plans to have his troops out of the country by August 31. In an initial response, the American leader said that he plans to hunt down the terrorists behind the attacks, but that it does not affect the exit strategy.
“I say to those who carried out this attack and others who want to harm us, we will not forgive you, we will not forget you. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” the president said in a press conference at the White House.
Bloodiest day in ten years
Biden spoke of a difficult day. At least 60 Afghans were killed in the suicide bombings and a firefight that followed, according to official figures. At least 13 U.S. servicemen were also killed, the highest death toll for the U.S. military in the country since 2011.
The president said the Pentagon did not consider a change of strategy necessary to terrorist group IS-K to fight. “We will track down the IS leaders behind this wherever they are. But that doesn’t require a major military operation.”
Biden therefore maintains that it was the right decision to withdraw US troops from the country two decades after the September 11, 2001 attacks. “It was time to end a twenty-year war.”
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