Taliban says Biden 'acknowledged reality' about Al-Qaeda being gone

The Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Saturday that US President Joe Biden's statements concerning the "non-existence of armed groups in Afghanistan" is "an acknowledgment of reality," referring to the US president's remarks about Al-Qaeda not being a threat in the region.

Biden's statement "refutes the recent report by UN Sanctions Monitoring Team alleging the presence and operation of over twenty armed groups in Afghanistan," the ministry added. "The Islamic Emirate maintains the policy of not allowing anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan to harm others. Our actions in this regard are not due to the requests or support of anyone, including America."

The UN report referenced by the Taliban-run government acknowledged a probable presence of armed groups, adding that “The link between the Taliban and both Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains strong and symbiotic.” 

“A range of terrorist groups have greater freedom of maneuver under the Taliban de facto authorities. They are making good use of this, and the threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region.”

The ministry made this statement the day after Biden was asked about his withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago as he was leaving a press conference on the US Supreme Court's decision to block his student debt relief plan.

When asked by a reporter if the withdrawal in 2021 was a mistake, Biden said that it wasn't and that "all the evidence is coming back. Do you remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said Al-Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn't be there. I said we'd get help from the Taliban. What's happening now? What's going on? Read your press. I was right."

The After Action review of US withdrawal from Afghanistan

The reporter's question was prompted by a report released earlier that day which it claimed that US officials were inhibited amid the mass evacuations in Afghanistan with the Taliban takeover - which resulted from a lack of management amidst the crisis.

"The decisions of both president Trump and president Biden to end the US military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security," said the review.

While those decisions were outside its scope, the review said that "during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow."

The After Action Review report had allegedly been ordered by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who felt the action was necessary after seeing the chaotic scenes left behind by the US’ sudden pull out of Afghanistan.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Biden's handling of the Afghan pullout.

"He had to make a decision," she told reporters on Friday. The United States had poured "billions of dollars into a war with no end in sight" and that "he wanted to stop that, he wanted to end that," she said.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, wrote in an email: "There’s only one person responsible for the disastrous pullout of Afghanistan — Joe Biden."

The White House report effectively blamed the chaotic US pullout and evacuation operation on a lack of planning and troop reduction rounds by Trump following a 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw US forces. 

"I can't speak to that internal coordination piece and how the administration settled on the core conclusions that it presented" in April, a senior State Department official said.

The official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, declined to say why the review dated March 2022 was withheld from release until the eve of the July 4 holiday weekend.