Joe Biden decided this Saturday to send 2,000 more troops than planned to Kabul to ensure the evacuation of US diplomats and Afghan civilians, while the Taliban are at the gates of the Afghan capital.
The US president said in a statement that, after consulting with his national security advisers, “around 5,000 soldiers”, not 3,000, would be deployed to Kabul airport to facilitate evacuations after 20 years of conflict.
Threatening the Taliban with a swift and forceful response to attacks against American interests, he defended his decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan and vowed not to “bequeath” this war to another American president.