Joe Biden keeps defending his Afghanistan decision – but his actions could come back to bite him

In a TV interview, the US president insists the withdrawal of troops was not a failure, writes Chris Stevenson. How can it be anything but?

The pressure is building on the US president (EPA)

In the latest defence of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Joe Biden said that there was no way for the US to pull out – and by extension everyone else – “without chaos ensuing”.

Well that is good to know, eh? That we were always headed towards this humanitarian crisis. “I don’t think it was a failure,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News when asked about the troop withdrawal, but it is difficult to frame it as anything else.

Every time Biden has spoken on the issue of Afghanistan in recent days it seems to have only intensified questions around the issues of planning and how we ended up in this situation.