Biden argues U.S. troops shouldn't fight in war that 'Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves'

published 16 August 2021

President Biden on Monday defended his Afghanistan exit strategy in a speech, arguing that American troops shouldn't fight and die in a war that the U.S.-trained Afghan military "is not willing to fight for itself." He was referring to the fact that Afghanistan's security forces appeared to put up little resistence against the Taliban's offensive last week.

Over the last couple of days, as the Biden administration has faced criticism over how the withdrawal has unfolded amid the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, multiple White House officials has repeated that talking point. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for instance, suggested the Afghan security forces' "inability" to hold off the insurgents was a primary reason as to why Afghanistan fell so much more quickly than anticipated. And National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that while the U.S. may have spent a lot of money building up Afghanistan's defense, they could not give the forces "the will" to fight.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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