White House Defends Decision to Withdraw from Afghanistan

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INTERNATIONAL: US President Joe Biden says he stands squarely behind his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, a move that has caused chaos and regime change, with the Taliban now back in control of the country. Biden told reporters overnight that the mission of the United States was never supposed to be nation building, blaming the Taliban's takeover on Afghanistan’s political leaders who fled the country and the unwillingness of the Afghan army to fight the militant group.

Biden is facing a barrage of criticism over his handling of the US withdrawal, pulling out troops and then sending thousands back in to help with the evacuation, but the US isn’t the only country which stands accused of abandoning Afghans. The Swedish and Dutch embassies both evacuated their expat staff without even informing their Afghan colleagues and blocking their official email accounts. While the weekend’s mass evacuation initially caused panic in Kabul, calm does seem to be returning to the capital.

There’s a strong Taliban presence on the streets, with the new regime set to declare a new “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. A Taliban official has told Reuters that its fighters are going door-to-door, collecting weapons from civilians because “people no longer need them for personal protection”. Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen took to Twitter to say the group was under strict orders not to harm anyone. The streets are quiet, but some shops remain open and residents have been filmed going about their business. Even as Western governments continue to evacuate staff and Afghan associates, the Taliban says the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign missions are assured.

It’s all a stark contrast to the scenes at Hamid Karzai International on Monday where five people were killed. It’s still not clear how the victims died, although US and Taliban troops had fired into the air to try and stop people forcing their way onto the tarmac and onto planes. Shots were also fired outside the airport as the Taliban tried to control the crowd of Afghans rushing to the terminal building.

At the United Nations, an emergency meeting of the Security Council was called. It has urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid for the Afghan people. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “united effort” to secure their basic human rights. Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ghulam Isaczai, expressed what many governments around the world fear: "We are extremely concerned about the Taliban not honoring their promises and commitments made in their statements at Doha and at other international forums. We witnessed time and again how the Taliban have broken their promises and commitments in the past."

China’s deputy representative, Geng Shuang, went as far as to urge the Taliban to make a clean break with its terrorist past and work with nations around the world to ensure a lasting peace for Afghanistan and its neighbours.

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