Joe Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal in farewell speech

In his last foreign policy speech, the US President said the incoming Trump administration has been left in a better position because of his foreign policies.

Joe Biden gives his address at the State Department in Washington. Picture: AFP.

Joe Biden has defended his decision to withdraw troops from ­Afghanistan in 2021, and said the incoming Trump administration has been left in a better position because of his administration’s management of foreign policy.

In a key speech defending his international record and conduct of foreign policy, Mr Biden said he was the first US president in decades who was not leaving behind a war in Afghanistan to his successor. “We do not need to station a sizeable number of American forces in Afghanistan,” the US President said. “In my view, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home. And we did.”

Mr Biden has faced harsh criticism for the botched withdrawal, which resulted in the Taliban sweeping across Afghanistan and into Kabul.

The ensuing chaos required Mr Biden to order an emergency evacuation of Americans and ­Afghan allies from the capital’s airport, marked by harrowing scenes of people clinging to C-17s and a crush of people clamouring to catch the next plane out of ­Afghanistan.

In his address, the outgoing President said the US withdrawal had not damaged ­alliance relationships or created a safe haven for terrorism in ­Afghanistan that threatened America. “Neither has occurred,” he said.

Mr Biden said Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would have preferred the US to have remained bogged down in the country.

“Ending the war was the right thing to do, and I believe history will reflect that,” he said.

He said he brought countries together to deal with pressing international challenges, and made clear his conviction that a more stable and integrated ­Middle East was now possible.

However this would require the incoming administration to ensure that the fall of the Assad ­regime in Syria would not lead to the resurgence of Islamic State, he said. It would also need to prevent Iran from acquiring a ­nuclear weapon.

Mr Biden said the evidence of a seriously weakened Iran and Russia lay in Syria. “President Assad was both countries’ closest ally in the Middle East. Neither could keep him in power,” he said.

Israel had contributed to the global outlook by inflicting damage on Iran and its proxies.

While major authoritarian states including Iran, Russia, China and North Korea were aligning more closely with each other, this was “more out of weakness than out of strength”.

Mr Biden also credited his ­administration with leaving the US in a better strategic position “in the long-term competition with China than we were when I took office”.

On its current trajectory, the Chinese economy would never surpass that of the US, he said, adding he had told Mr Xi that America’s expectation was for ­Beijing to play by international rules. His administration had taken action against unfair trade practices and had also imposed targeted tariffs on Chinese steel, cars and semiconductors instead of across-the-board tariffs.

Yet he argued his administration had continued to manage the relationship with China respon­sibly, created new lines of communication at the highest level and at the military-to-military level in ­actions that had prevented the likelihood of conflict.

He also declared the US was now “winning the world-wide competition” and, in a swipe at incoming president Donald Trump, argued that the US and its ­alliance relationships were “stronger” than when he took office.

“Our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” he said. “During my presidency, I have increased America’s power in every direction. America is more capable and I would argue better prepared than we’ve been in a long, long time. While our competitors and adversaries are facing stiff headwinds, we have the wind at our back,” Mr Biden said.

“Our sources of national power are far stronger than they were when we took office. Our economy is booming, although there is more work to do … We are the envy of the world.”