United States President Joe Biden addressed the nation on the Afghanistan crisis a little after 3:45 pm on Monday, 16 August (1:15 am IST, Tuesday), and said that "I stand squarely by my decision."
"American troops should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that American troops are not willing to fight by themselves," Biden said.
Earlier, US soldiers killed two armed men at the Kabul airport, news agency AFP reported citing the Pentagon, a day after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The Taliban is in control of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war.
China on Monday said that it is willing to develop 'friendly relations' with Afghanistan's Taliban, AFP reported.
All commercial flights were suspended at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, TOLO News reported, after the closure of Afghan airspace
Later in the day, the Pentagon reportedly said that all military and civilian flights have been halted at Kabul airport
On Sunday, Taliban commanders said that they had taken control of the Afghan Presidential Palace
Following the withdrawal of a majority of US troops on 1 May, Taliban advanced rapidly in the country, capturing city after city
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'Stand Squarely by My Decision': US President Biden
United States President Joe Biden addressed the nation on the Afghanistan crisis a little after 3:45 pm on Monday, 16 August (1:15 am IST, Tuesday), and said that "I stand squarely by my decision."
"American troops should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that American troops are not willing to fight by themselves," Biden said.
"My national security team and I have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency and contingency including the rapid collapse we are seeing now," he said.
"Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation-building or create a unified, centralised democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been - preventing terrorist attack on American homeland," Biden said.
US President Joe Biden to Address the Nation on Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden will be addressing the nation on the Afghanistan crisis at 3:45 pm ET on Monday (1:15 am IST).
US Soldiers Kill 2 Armed Men at Kabul Airport: Pentagon
US soldiers killed two armed men at the Kabul airport, news agency AFP reported on Monday, 16 August, citing the Pentagon.