US no longer had 'clear purpose' in Afghanistan, Biden says

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US was without a clear aim as it entered the twentieth year of its war in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said Tuesday following the withdrawal of American forces from the war-torn country.

Biden said the US "had been a nation too long at war," and he was faced with a decision of either "leaving or escalating," a reference to a pact his predecessor brokered with the Taliban that ensured American forces would not come under attack as they pulled out of Afghanistan.

"We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan," Biden said during remarks at the White House. "After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refused to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago.”

The president vowed to end the war during the 2020 White House race and fulfilled that vow ahead of the war’s two-decade anniversary.

"I made a commitment to the American people to end this war. Today, I have honored that commitment," he said.