U.S. Secretary of State: Afghanistan Did Not Become a Safe Haven for Terrorists After U.S. Withdrawal
Bayan News – Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, stated that contrary to pessimistic predictions following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country did not become a “safe haven” for terrorist groups.
Speaking on Wednesday, December 11, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken noted that when President Biden took office, he inherited an agreement from the previous administration (under Trump) that had been made with the Taliban.
Blinken added that the former Afghan government, at the request of the United States, released 4,000 Taliban prisoners, who were then handed over to the Taliban. The agreement also stipulated that the Taliban would not attack U.S. forces and that intra-Afghan negotiations would continue.
According to Blinken, despite violations of the Doha Agreement, Biden decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He explained:
“Biden had two choices: to end the war or escalate it. If the Biden administration had not honored the agreement, the Taliban would have resumed attacks on us and on major cities. In that scenario, we would have had to redeploy tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan. At best, this would have resulted in a stalemate, trapping us indefinitely.”
Blinken also discussed the collapse of the previous Afghan government and the disintegration of its military, emphasizing that, contrary to expectations, the security forces fell apart rapidly.
Defending Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops, Blinken argued that the pessimistic forecasts about Afghanistan did not materialize:
“Many told us that Afghanistan would become a safe haven for terrorists. However, today, Al-Qaeda—the group that organized the September 11 attacks—has not reestablished itself in Afghanistan. In 2022, we eliminated Ayman al-Zawahiri in southern Kabul without having any troops on the ground.”
He further highlighted that the U.S. evacuated 120,000 Americans and Afghan citizens after August 15, 2021.
However, some members of the House of Representatives emphasized during the hearing that the Doha Agreement, signed during Donald Trump’s presidency, had placed the U.S. on an irreversible path.
