US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his decision to withdraw all of his country’s forces from Afghanistan on the tenth anniversary of the operation that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Biden said in a statement published by the White House, “We chased Bin Laden to the gates of hell and caught up with him.”
Biden, who announced last month that he would end Washington’s longest war by September 11, praised former President Barack Obama for agreeing in 2011 to the covert operation targeting the terrorist al-Qaeda leader, and praised the Special Forces that carried it out in Pakistan.
With the United States preparing to withdraw its last troops from Afghanistan, Biden said, “Al-Qaeda has retreated significantly there, but the United States will remain vigilant about the threat of terrorist groups, which have spread throughout the world.”
He continued, “We will continue to monitor and disable any threat to us that emanates from Afghanistan, and we will work to confront terrorist threats, to our homeland and our interests, in cooperation with allies and partners around the world.”
