Biden National Security Adviser Says Afghanistan Army Lacked ‘Will’ to Defend Against Taliban
See! I knew it wasn’t Joe’s fault!
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday defended the White House’s withdrawal from Afghanistan but admitted the South Asian country fell to the Taliban terrorist group faster than officials had anticipated.
“It is certainly the case that the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated, including the Afghans, including many of the analysts who looked hard at this problem,” Sullivan said during a Monday morning interview on the “Today” show.
The reason why Afghanistan’s armed forces and government collapsed so quickly, he said, is that “we could not give them the will and they ultimately decided that they would not fight for Kabul and they would not fight for the country,” while noting that the United States spent 20 years and billions of dollars in nation-building after the 2001 invasion.