美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周二向全国发表讲话，对自己设定的从阿富汗撤军的最后期限进行了迄今为止最激烈的辩护——在最后一支军队离开阿富汗一天后，美国最长的战争结束了——但只是在混乱和致命的撤军之后。
“让我明确一点，8月31日离开，并不是由于一个武断的截止日期。这是为了拯救美国人的生命，”一名挑衅的拜登说，回应了对他离开的决定以及如何处理的严厉批评。
在赞扬了他所称的美军在进行仓促而危险的撤离中取得的“非凡成功”后，他直言不讳地指责阿富汗军队和阿富汗政府如此迅速地崩溃，以及特朗普政府与他所继承的塔利班达成了一项协议，该协议将在5月1日前撤出所有地面部队。
“所以，我们只剩下一个简单的决定。要么贯彻上届政府的承诺，离开阿富汗，要么说我们不会离开，并承诺再有数万名士兵重返战场，”他声称。“那是选择，真正的选择。在离开或升级之间。我不会延长这场永远的战争。我没有延长永久退出。”
拜登继续说道:“是时候再次对美国人民诚实了。我们在阿富汗的无限期任务不再有明确的目的。在阿富汗经历了20年的战争之后，我拒绝再派一代美国儿女去打一场早就应该结束的战争。”
总统在白宫国家餐厅准备的讲话是在最后一架军用飞机飞越阿富汗领空24小时后发表的，但飞机上没有100多名仍想离开该国的美国人，共和党人和其他批评者抨击这是“把美国人抛在身后”
拜登淡化了外交政策危机的这一部分，称美国已经向剩余的美国人伸出了19次手。
“底线是，90%想离开阿富汗的美国人能够离开。对于那些留下来的美国人来说，没有最后期限。如果他们想出来，我们仍然致力于让他们出来，”拜登说，但没有详细说明这是如何发生的。
拜登在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说专访8月18日，“如果还有美国公民离开，我们会留下来把他们都救出来。”
在他发表上述言论之前，参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)加入了共和党议员的合唱，批评总统“鲁莽撤军”，这“制造了一场人道主义灾难，助长了恐怖分子的气焰。”
“两周前，拜登总统明确承诺，他不会在每个想退出的美国人都退出之前退出。他们自己承认，拜登政府现在已经违背了这一承诺，”麦康奈尔说。
周二，拜登表示，当他在4月份决定结束战争并设定8月31日为最后期限时，美国官员曾假设，他们在过去20年里训练的30多万阿富汗国家安全部队将经得起塔利班的接管。
拜登说:“这一假设，即阿富汗政府能够在军事缩编后坚持一段时间，结果并不准确。“但我仍然指示我们的国家安全团队为每一个可能发生的事情做好准备。即使是那个。这就是我们所做的。”
他否认过去一周在阿富汗出现的问题是可以避免的。
他说:“结束喀布尔机场军事空运行动的决定是基于我的文职和军事顾问的一致建议。
“我为这个决定负责。现在有人说，我们应该更早开始大规模撤离，难道不能更有序地进行吗?我不同意，”他说。“底线是，如果没有我们面临的各种复杂性、挑战和威胁，就不可能从战争结束后撤离。没有。”
拜登还利用国家聚光灯对批评者进行了回击，这些批评者说，美国本可以保持有限的军事存在。
“那些要求在阿富汗进行第三个十年战争的人，我问，什么是至关重要的国家利益?”拜登说。“在我看来，总统的基本义务是保卫和保护美国。不是针对2001年的威胁，而是针对2021年和明天的威胁。”
共和国总统拜登:“我们成功地完成了10多年前在阿富汗开始的任务。然后我们又呆了十年。是时候结束这场战争了。”https://t.co/TQIuZzC8oGpic.twitter.com/uu2YDmXKTa
—美国广播公司新闻(@美国广播公司)2021年8月31日
“我的美国同胞们，阿富汗战争现在已经结束。我是第四位必须面对是否以及何时结束这场战争的总统。当我竞选总统时，我向美国人民承诺我将结束这场战争。今天，我兑现了这一承诺，”他说。
随着美国距离911袭击20年，军事和外交撤军已经完成，塔利班再次接管了这个国家，包括喀布尔机场，这是过去两周经常令人绝望的撤离努力的地点。周一晚上，为了庆祝从喀布尔撤军，有人向空中开枪。
五角大楼表示，2461名士兵在战争中丧生，这场战争从一开始就开始了:在塔利班的统治下。自撤离任务开始以来，6000名公民和超过12.3万人——阿富汗人的“朋友和盟友”——被美国和合作伙伴空运出去，但留守者的警报正在响起。
美国一位官员称，总统的民调数据也显示，美国人之间存在不同寻常的跨党派共识，即在拜登的最后期限前撤出所有美军可能是一个严重的错误美国广播公司/益普索民意调查周四喀布尔发生自杀式袭击，造成13名军人死亡，20人受伤。调查发现，认为美国军队应该留到所有美国人都离开阿富汗的美国人中，民主党人占86%，共和党人占87%，无党派人士占86%。
“我全心全意向你保证，”拜登周二在向美国人传递他的信息时说。“我相信这是正确的决定，明智的决定，也是对美国最好的决定。”
Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal, recommits to evacuate remaining Americans
President Joe Biden, speaking to the nation Tuesday, gave his fiercest defense yet of his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan -- a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America's longest war to a close -- but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.
"Let me be clear, leaving August the 31st, is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives," a defiant Biden said, responding to harsh criticism both of his decision to leave and how it was handled.
After praising what he called the "extraordinary success" U.S. troops had in conducting the rushed and dangerous evacuation, he bluntly blamed both the Afghan army and the Afghan government for collapsing so quickly and the Trump administration for making a deal with the Taliban, that he said he inherited, that would have withdrawn all ground troops by May 1.
"So, we were left with a simple decision. Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan or say we weren't leaving and commit to another tens of thousands more troops going back to war," he claimed. "That was the choice, the real choice. Between leaving or escalating. I was not going to extend this forever war. And I was not extending a forever exit."
His voice rising in anger at times, Biden continued, "It was time to be honest with the American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refuse to send another generation of America's sons and daughters to fight a war that should've ended long ago."
The president's prepared remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House came 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country, something Republicans and other critics have blasted as "leaving Americans behind."
Biden downplayed that part of the foreign policy crisis, saying the U.S. had reached out to the remaining Americans 19 times.
"The bottom line, 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out," Biden said, without detailing out how that could happen.
Biden had told ABC News' George Stephanopolous in anexclusive interviewon Aug. 18, "If there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay to get them all out."
Ahead of his remarks, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined a chorus of Republican lawmakers criticizing the president for what he called a "reckless withdrawal" that "created a humanitarian disaster and emboldened the terrorists."
“Two weeks ago, President Biden specifically promised he wouldn’t pull out before every American who wanted out had gotten out. By their own admission, the Biden Administration has now broken that promise," McConnell said.
On Tuesday, Biden said that when he made the decision in April to end the war and set the Aug. 31 deadline, U.S. officials had assumed that the more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that they had trained over the past two decades would stand up to a Taliban takeover.
"That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate," Biden said. “But I still instructed our national security team to prepare for every eventuality. Even that one. And that's what we did."
He denied that the problems that have marred the past week in Afghanistan could have been avoided.
"The decision to end the military lift operation at Kabul airport was based on unanimous recommendation of my civilian and military advisers," he said.
"I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner, and couldn't this have been done -- been done in a more orderly manner? I respectfully disagree," he said. "The bottom line is, there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, threats we faced. None."
Biden also used the national spotlight to fire back at critics who say the U.S. could have maintained a limited military presence.
“Those asking for the third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, what is the vital national interest?” Biden said. "The fundamental obligation of a president in my opinion is to defend and protect America. Not against threats of 2001 but against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow."
Pres. Biden: “We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago. Then we stayed for another decade. It was time to end this war.”https://t.co/TQIuZzC8oGpic.twitter.com/uu2YDmXKTa
— ABC News (@ABC)August 31, 2021
"My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over. I'm the fourth president that must face the issue of whether and when to end this war. When I was running for president, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. Today I've honored that commitment," he said.
With the military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.
The Pentagon said that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people -- Afghans "friends and allies" -- were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.
The president's poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden's deadline could be a grave mistake, according to anABC/Ipsos pollconducted after Thursday's suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.
"I give you my word with all of my heart," Biden said Tuesday, delivering his message to Americans. "I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America."
