President Biden Says Afghans Must Decide Their Future As U.S. Troops Withdraw

United States President Joe Biden said Friday that the future of Afghanistan was in its own hands, but he promised its president, Ashraf Ghani, that the United States would continue to support the country even after American forces withdraw following nearly 20 years of war.

During a visit to Washington by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, President Biden said the United States would continue to offer security assistance, as well as diplomatic and humanitarian aid.

His decision to pull out American troops by September 11 is one of the most consequential of his presidency so far, a deeply personal calculation.

The meeting came the day after the US announced plans to evacuate thousands of Afghans who worked for the US military ahead of the withdrawal.

However there are concerns of reprisals from the Taliban which the US and Nato officials recently said have so far failed to live up to commitments to reduce violence in Afghanistan.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, President Biden said the partnership between the US and Afghanistan would continue but he stressed that it was up to Afghans to decide “what they want”, adding that the senseless violence has to stop.

Meanwhile, President Ghani expressed support for the Us President’s historic decision to withdraw US troops, saying he was there to respect it and support it.

He also announced that Afghan security forces had recaptured six districts, reversing some recent Taliban gains.