December 19, 2010: Vice President Biden
promised Sunday that the United States
will withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014,
"come hell or high water."
Not that Vigilant Grandpa believes you have an ounce of credibility Mr. Biden, however a six year old girl or boy would likely have taken you at your word and believed their mom and/or dad would be home for good by their 10th birthday.
During your "promise" delivered on Meet the Press, you were asked whether the United States is winning or losing in Afghanistan, and you replied, "The one thing I've never been accused of is not being straight. We are making progress. Are we making sufficient progress fast enough? The answer remains to be seen."
As a practicing grandpa Mr. Biden, I am curious if the role of
Vice President limits "your perception of shooting straight
and making promises" to only those of voting age?
By Patricia Zengerle
January 11, 2022
(Reuters) - The United States is not in Afghanistan to "govern," but will stay beyond a scheduled 2014 security handover if Afghans want, visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday.
Seeking to reassure the Afghan leader, who has accused Washington in the past of meddling, Biden said Afghans were capable of building their own institutions and the United States was not in the war-torn country to "nation-build."
"We are not leaving if you don't want us to leave. We plan on continuing to work with you and it's in the mutual self-interest of both nations," he said.
The visit was Biden's first trip to Afghanistan as vice president. He has been openly critical of Karzai in the past, questioning the Afghan leader's credibility as a partner and accusing him of doing little to tackle corruption.
A senior administration official said the two leaders' meetings with staff and one-on-one had gone well.
"The tone was excellent, a productive and positive meeting and my understanding is the same was true of their one on one," the official said.
It comes after the bloodiest year of the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, with violence at its worst since U.S.-led Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
"It is not our intention to govern or to nation-build. This is the responsibility of the Afghan people and they are fully capable of it," Biden said in a press statement after talks and lunch with Karzai.
A war review by U.S. President Barack Obama in December said "notable operational gains" had been made and the Taliban's momentum arrested in much of the country and reversed in some areas, but any gains were fragile and reversible.
The review also said the United States was on track to begin gradually withdrawing its troops -- numbering about 97,000 out of some 150,000 foreign troops -- in July.
The reduction is part of an ambitious NATO-backed plan for Afghans to take the lead in securing the whole country in 2014.
"The vice president was simply restating for the public what he had said to the president, which was that the US wants an enduring partnership with Afghanistan," the administration official said.
Biden said U.S. forces had made progress against militant insurgents, but for these advances to hold, Afghanistan needed to take responsibility for its own security and Pakistan should do more to stop the Taliban.
"NOT LEAVING"
Biden said the United States would remain in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 handover deadline if the Afghans wanted. Complete article on Biden's confusion about leaving and staying
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