Biden 'Squarely Behind' Decision To Leave Afghanistan: Replay

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden on Monday strongly defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces in Afghanistan, even in the wake of the Taliban quickly recapturing the Kabul capital over the weekend.

Biden said he was faced with a choice between sticking to a previously negotiated agreement to withdraw U.S. troops this year or sending thousands more service members back into Afghanistan for a “third decade” of war.

The Taliban took hold of the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Sunday as Afghans and Americans alike feverishly rushed to leave the country. One fear is that the Taliban regaining power for the first time since the days immediately after 9/11 will mean a reimplementation of policies that all but eliminate women's rights.

“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said in a televised address to the nation from the White House East Room. “After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

Biden said he'd rather take the criticism over the fallout in Afghanistan than pass the decision to a fifth president. He said the decision to leave Afghanistan is “the right one for America." He said keeping a U.S. presence in Afghanistan was no longer a U.S. national security interest.

Senior U.S. military officials told The Associated Press that chaos at the Kabul airport left seven people dead Monday, including some who fell from a departing American military transport jet.

A video showed the Afghans falling as the plane gained altitude over Kabul, according to the AP. U.S. troops resorted to firing warning shots and using helicopters to clear a path for transport aircraft.

Biden described the images coming out of Afghanistan — especially at the airport in Kabul, where Afghans descended in hopes of fleeing the country — as “gut-wrenching." Video of Afghans clinging to a U.S. Air Force plane as it prepared to take off had circulated widely on the internet.

But he did not admit any U.S. fault in how the drawdown was executed. He acknowledged that the Taliban takeover unfolded faster than had been anticipated.

Watch a replay of Biden's address in the video player above, or on the White House YouTube channel.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.