President Joe Biden says the U.S. military will complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan by August 31 — nearly two weeks ahead of the previous September 11 deadline. Speaking from the White House Thursday, Biden said it would be up to Afghans to determine their own future — nearly two decades after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
President Joe Biden: “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country. … I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.”
A Taliban delegation in Moscow said Friday the group now controls over 85% of Afghan territory. The Taliban has surrounded population centers, captured a key Afghan border crossing with Iran, and holds more than two-thirds of Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan.