President Biden on Monday spoke for the last time from the State Department on the state of US foreign policy and national security after his four-year term ends in a week when President-elect Donald Trump takes office again.
Biden did not specifically address or name a future president, but referred to the previous and incoming Trump administrations and said he was leaving “a strong hand to play.”
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U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the State Department in Washington, U.S., January 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The president listed a number of major nations of greatest geopolitical importance to US national security, but also mentioned the US withdrawal from Afghanistan – which was among criticized the president the most political decisions and resulting in the deaths of 13 US soldiers and approximately 140 Afghan civilians ISIS-K launched an attack on those evacuating at Abbey Gate.
“[I am] the first president in decades not to leave the war in Afghanistan to his successor,” Biden said.
The president pointed to the assassination of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden during the Obama administration and said he judged that large numbers of US forces were no longer needed when he took office.
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“So when I took office, I had a choice – I just saw no reason to keep thousands of troops in Afghanistan,” he added. “In my opinion, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did.”
This is a developing story.
