Media decries US President Joe Biden's statement

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden's statement on Saturday washing his hands of Afghanistan deserves to go down as one of the most shameful in history by a commander in chief at such a moment of American retreat, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal said.

As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, Joe Biden sent a confirmation of US abandonment that absolved himself of responsibility, deflected blame to his predecessor, and more or less invited the Taliban to take over the country, the editorial board of WSJ said.

With that statement of capitulation, the Afghan military's last resistance collapsed.

Taliban fighters captured Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country while the US frantically tried to evacuate Americans from the war-torn nation.

The jihadists the US toppled 20 years ago for sheltering Osama bin Laden will now fly their flag over the US Embassy building on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the report said.

"Our goal all along has been to offer constructive advice to avoid this outcome. We criticised Donald Trump's deal with the Taliban and warned about the risks of his urge to withdraw in a rush, and we did the same for Biden. The President's advisers offered an alternative, as did the Afghanistan Study Group. Biden, as always too assured of his own foreign-policy acumen, refused to listen," WSj said. (IANS)

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