US President Joe Biden on Monday stood by his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan while acknowledging Kabul's collapse to the Taliban came much sooner than Washington had anticipated. "I stand squarely behind my decision," said Biden in a televised speech from the White House. "The truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated."

美国总统拜登8月16日在白宫发表电视讲话，为自己作出的从阿富汗撤军的决定辩护。不过他也承认，面对塔利班，阿富汗政府的溃败比华盛顿预期的要快得多。拜登说："我认为从阿富汗撤军是完全正确的决定。事实上，事态发展比我们预想的更快。"

The speech came one day after the Taliban completed a stunningly swift takeover of the war-torn country's capital of Kabul on Sunday after Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left the country. "If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan, now, was the right decision," said Biden, who returned to the White House from Camp David ahead of schedule.

8月15日，塔利班在极短时间内就控制了阿富汗首都喀布尔，在此之前，阿富汗总统加尼已离开阿富汗。得知消息后，拜登提前结束在戴维营的行程，返回白宫。拜登说，过去一周的事态发展进一步说明，现在结束美国在阿富汗的军事介入是正确的决定。

"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves," he said. Biden said the US mission in Afghanistan to defeat the Sept 11 attackers and ensure al-Qaida could not use Afghanistan as a base to hit the US had been completed.

美国军队不能也不应该在一场连阿富汗军队都不愿为自己而战的战争中去战斗和牺牲。拜登表示，美国出兵阿富汗的目的就是抓住发动911袭击的凶手，确保基地组织不会以阿富汗作为大本营对美国发动袭击，这一目标已经实现。