Washington, Dec 11 (UNI) The troop withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed the United States to dedicate its resources to the current challenges like the Ukraine conflict and competition with China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
“It [the withdrawal from Afghanistan] gained us the opportunity to refocus and rededicate out resources to the challenges of this moment — from the Russian aggression against Ukraine to the many challenges posed by China,” Blinken told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
When asked if there is connection between Afghanistan withdrawal and the conflict in Ukraine that happened some months after that, Blinken replied that he thinks that US adversaries, among whom he placed Russia, would have been glad if the US had doubled down and remained in Afghanistan for another 20 years.
The United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, following a rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism). The US military led the chaotic evacuation of thousands of people from Afghanistan via the airport in Kabul, where a terrorist attack killed 13 US troops and 170 Afghans.
