Biden Makes Case For Afghanistan Withdrawal: We Did Not Go There to ‘Nation-Build’

President Joe Biden announced at a press conference on Thursday that the United States will expedite its withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan.

Biden said U.S. forces would be fully withdrawn by the end of August — earlier than the previously set September 11 deadline — and he argued that America and its allies have accomplished their core objectives from when they invaded the country in 2001.

“The United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden,” Biden said. “We achieved those objectives. That’s why we went. We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build, and it is the right and the responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.”

Biden continued by speaking of efforts to secure Afghanistan against the resurgence of the Taliban, and his expectations for the future of international diplomacy regarding the nation. He also insisted that the government is working to expedite the processing of special immigration visas so translators and other Afghani allies to the U.S. would be safely relocated before the withdrawal is complete.

“Our message is clear: there is a home for you in the United States if you so choose and we will stand with you as you stood with us,” Biden said.

Biden’s speech continued with him offering a counterargument to those arguing that its too soon to pull U.S. forces from the country, even though the Taliban is on the move. The president argued that the status quo is “not an option,” and staying in Afghanistan would only result in more U.S. casualties.

“I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” said Biden.

Watch above, via CNN.