Biden says he does not regret Afghanistan troop withdrawal despite Taliban’s sweeping victories

Biden says Afghans have to ‘fight for themselves’, as Taliban takes control of two thirds of the country

Displaced Afghans reach out for aid from a local Muslim organization at a makeshift IDP camp (Getty Images)

US president Joe Biden has said he does not regret his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, despite the Taliban continuing to make rapid territorial gains in the country.

Speaking to the reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Mr Biden said the US has spent over $1 trillion over 20 years and retrained as well as equipped 300,000 Afghan forces with modern equipment.

"Afghan leaders have to come together," Mr Biden said, adding that the Afghan troops outnumber the Taliban. "They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation."

Mr Biden said the US will “continue to keep the commitments we made: providing close air support, making sure that their Air Force functions and is operable, resupplying their forces with food and equipment and paying all of their salaries. But they have got to want to fight.”

"But I do not regret my decision," he added.

His statements comes as the Taliban has seized control of at least nine out of the country’s 34 regions after US and Nato forces called time on two decades of military operations.

A senior EU official said on Tuesday that Taliban militia now control 65 per cent of Afghanistan, including the major city of Kunduz, while threatening to take control of 11 provincial capitals.

The national capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within 90 days, according to a Washington Post report based on US military assessments.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in the country’s north to escape the battles and moved to Kabul to live in parks and streets as confrontation between the Taliban and the military has overwhelmed their towns.

About 1,000 civilians have died in the last one month after getting caught in the fierce fighting, according to the UN.

On Tuesday, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy, travelled to Doha in Qatar to convey to the insurgents that the US will politically isolate the Taliban government if it comes to power by force, indicating that there is no point in attempting a military overthrow of the Kabul government.

Mr Biden has set the last date for withdrawal of all US troops as 31 August, with the exception of those guarding the US Embassy as well as possible special forces members.

Amid the withdrawal, the US and Afghan military are continuing to launch airstrikes, but Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the US won’t take on much of the responsibility for fighting the Taliban in future.

“It’s going to come down to [Afghan] leadership and what leadership was demonstrated, or not,” Mr Kirby said. “It’s their country to defend now. It’s their struggle.”