Joe Biden will on Wednesday announce the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks that sparked America’s longest-running war.
“After a rigorous policy review, President Biden has decided to draw down the remaining troops in Afghanistan and finally end the US war there after 20 years,” a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.
“We will begin an orderly drawdown of the remaining forces before May 1 and plan to have all US troops out of the country before the 20th anniversary of 9/11,” the official added.
Jennifer Psaki, White House press secretary, said Biden would give a speech at the White House on Wednesday “on the way forward in Afghanistan”.
Psaki said the speech would include Biden’s “plans and timeline for withdrawing US troops in close co-ordination with our partners and allies and the government of Afghanistan, and his commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today”.
“The president has been consistent in his view that there is not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long,” Psaki added. “That has been his view for some time. ”
Precipitously withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished
The US sent troops into Afghanistan in 2003 in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks. The number of troops in the country surpassed 100,000 after former president Barack Obama ordered a “surge”, which then US vice-president Biden opposed, before falling sharply during Obama’s second term.
Donald Trump vowed to end America’s “endless wars” overseas, and his administration gradually reduced the number of remaining troops in Afghanistan during his presidency.
In early 2020, the US struck a deal with the Taliban that offered to draw down US troops by early May this year in exchange for less violence and a pledge from the Islamist group to cut all ties with al-Qaeda.
However, the deal failed to secure support from the government in Kabul, which is reluctant to include the Taliban in a power-sharing agreement or settle grievances among political cliques.
The senior administration official said the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan would not be contingent on striking a deal with the Kabul government or the Taliban.
“The president has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever,” the official added.
The news, which was first reported by The Washington Post, was largely welcomed by Democratic lawmakers.
Jack Reed, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island who chairs the Senate armed services committee, said he spoke to Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, about the move on Monday.
“It will be a transition because we still have vital interests in protecting against terrorist attacks that could be emanating from that area,” Reed told reporters on Capitol Hill. “But there are other places in the world, too, where you have to be conscious. ”
He added: “I think, again, we have to focus on what is ahead, which is engagement diplomatically, engagement, hopefully, with the international community to provide resources to sustain from the gains we made . . . and then a very, very determined counter-terrorism operation. ”
But many Republicans attacked the announcement. Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, said: “Precipitously withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership. ”
He added: “A reckless pullback like this would abandon our Afghan, regional and Nato partners in a shared fight against terrorists that we have not yet won. ”
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, and Austin are this week in Brussels for talks with Nato and EU leaders. About 10,000 troops from 36 Nato allies and partner countries are in Afghanistan.
A Nato official on Tuesday said the alliance’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg would discuss Afghanistan with Blinken and Austin on Wednesday.
“Allies have been closely consulting on the way forward in Afghanistan for many months,” the official said.
Additional reporting by Michael Peel in Brussels