Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal again: “Should we invade all places where Al-Qaeda is?”

On Saturday, on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, US President Joe Biden once again defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. The United States cannot invade all countries where Al Qaeda is based, the US president said.

“Whether Al Qaeda can return? Yes, but I’ll tell you, they’re already back in other places,” Biden told reporters in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the four hijacked planes crashed 20 years ago.

“What is the strategy? Should we invade all the places where Al Qaeda is located and station troops there? Let’s be serious, though,” he added.

The US president has come under heavy fire in recent weeks for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden reiterated that the attempt to unify Afghanistan was a mistake. According to the president, the Americans have fulfilled their mission by killing Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda, and driving his group out of Afghanistan.

“Incompetent”

The Americans invaded Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks. The war in Afghanistan would eventually become the longest in American history.

Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump once again lashed out at his Democratic successor on Saturday. He denounced Biden’s “incompetence” and deplored the “terrible” withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It is a sad moment for the way our war against those who have done so much harm to our country has now ended,” he said. “The ruler of our country seems such an idiot.”

Biden says he is not too heavy in the stomach with his declining popularity. “I’m a big boy. I’ve been doing this job for a while,” the 77-year-old US president concluded.