Biden’s approval drops after he pulls American soldiers from Afghanistan after years of occupation
President Joe Biden recently made the decision to end the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war and billions of U.S. military resources going to help the country’s efforts to fight the Taliban, many U.S. citizens are in support of the decision, but not of Joe Biden.
According to the most recent NPR poll, Biden’s approval rating has dropped down to 43%.
In a recent Pew research poll, a majority of U.S. citizens found the decision to pull out of Afghanistan to be the right one, but the same participants found the handling of the situation by the Biden administration to be a failure, with only 27% of the poll population in support.
“Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy,” said Biden. “Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland.”
Many citizens feel the overtaking by the Taliban could have been avoided if the withdrawal was handled differently and see this as a failure on Biden’s part.
The Biden administration feels sound in their decision to remove troops after Biden inherited the decision from the last presidency. Biden feels the decision to stay would have created American casualties and increased conflict in the area.
“Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy,” said Biden. “Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland.”
Biden believes the problem of terrorism has grown outside of just Afghanistan and to continue occupation there no longer makes sense.
“American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” said Biden. “We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong — incredibly well equipped — a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies.”
Going forward from the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the recent overtaking of Afghanistan by the Taliban, many wonder what will happen to newly displaced refugees.
“3.5 million people are internally displaced, having fled their homes searching for refuge within the country,” The UN Refugee Agency said. “In light of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in 2021, the number of people fleeing will likely continue to rise.”
The U.S. Department of State has recently come out with statements on eligibility for refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. Afghans will have opportunities to settle in the U.S. especially including aids to the U.S. forces during their occupation.
“This designation expands the opportunity to permanently resettle in the United States to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk due to their U.S. affiliation but who are not eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa because they did not have qualifying employment, or because they have not met the time-in-service requirement to become eligible,” The U.S. Department of State said.