Facing sharp criticism over the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday it was the best available option to end both the United States' longest war and decades of fruitless efforts to remake other countries through military force, APA reports quoting Reuters.
Biden portrayed the chaotic exit as a logistical success that would have been just as messy even if it had been launched weeks earlier, while staying in the country would have required committing more American troops.
"I was not going to extend this forever war," he said in a speech from the White House.
Earlier in the day, the Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in a lightning advance this month, fired guns into the air and paraded coffins draped in U.S. and NATO flags as they celebrated their victory.