东厅
美国东部夏令时间下午2:09
总统：下午好。今天早些时候，我听取了高级军事人员和国家安全事务领导人就美军和盟军撤出阿富汗的现状提出的简报。
我在4月份宣布我们撤军一事时曾表示，我们将在9月前完成撤军，目前我们正按部就班实现这个目标。
我们在阿富汗的军事使命将于8月31日终止。撤军工作正安全有序地进行，以我们的军队在撤出过程中的安全为重。
我们的军事指挥员对我提出建议，一旦我做出结束这场战争的决定，我们必须迅速实施撤军的主体部分。在这种情况下，速度就意味着安全。
由于我们为我们撤军采取的管理方式，没有任何人员——没有任何美军人员或任何其他军队的人员——遭到损失。采取不同的方式进行我们的撤军工作必然会使我方人员的安全面临越来越大的危险。
对我来说，这些危险不可接受。我们的军队能够以最高的专业水平有效地完成这项任务，这一点从来没有任何疑问。这是他们的工作。我们的北约（NATO）盟国和伙伴也同样如此。他们支持了——在他们撤出之际，我们正在提供支持，也得到他们的支持。
我必须明确指出：美军在阿富汗的使命将持续到8月底。我们仍然——我们在该国保留有关人员和能力，我们维持某些授权——请原谅，与我们一段时间以来一贯遵行的同样的授权。
正如我在4月份所说的，美国完成了我们前往阿富汗需要完成的工作：追剿9/11袭击我们的恐怖主义分子，将奥萨马·本·拉登（Osama Bin Laden）绳之以法，同时降低了恐怖主义威胁，使阿富汗不再成为可能继续对美国发动袭击的基地。我们实现了这些目标。这就是当初我们出兵的原因。
我们前往阿富汗不是为了建设国家。这是阿富汗人民本身的权利和责任，应自行决定自身的未来和如何管理自己的国家。
我们与我们的北约盟国和伙伴共同为阿富汗国家安全部队（Afghan National Security Force）近300,000名现役军事人员和其他众多现已退役的人员提供了训练和装备。此外，20多年来另有成千上万阿富汗国防和安全部队（Afghan National Defense and Security Forces）的人员接受了训练。
我们为我们的阿富汗伙伴提供了所有的条件——我需要强调：任何现代军队需要的所有条件、训练和设备。我们提供了先进的武器。我们将继续提供资金和设备。我们将确保他们有能力维持他们的空军。
但最关键的是，正如我2星期前会见加尼（Ghani）总统和阿卜杜拉（Abdullah）主席时所强调的，阿富汗领导人必须团结一致，致力于实现阿富汗人民希望和应该得到的未来。
在我们会谈期间，我还向加尼保证美国对阿富汗人民的支援持久不变。我们将继续提供民用和人道主义援助，包括为妇女和女孩的权利大声疾呼。
我希望维持我们在阿富汗的外交存在。我们正与我们的国际伙伴密切协调，继续保障国际机场的安全。
我们将采取坚定的外交立场争取和平，通过达成和平协议结束这场毫无意义的暴力。
我已要求国务卿布林肯（Blinken）和我们的阿富汗和解事务特别代表（Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation）与阿富汗各方以及地区和国际利益相关方共同积极努力，支持通过谈判达成解决方案。
需要明确的是——需要明确的是：该地区各国都可以为支持和平解决方案发挥重要作用。我们将与他们共同努力。他们也应该尽力加强他们的努力。
我们将继续为被拘押的美方人员获释而努力，其中包括马克（Mark）——请原谅—— 弗雷（Fre）——弗雷里西斯（Frerichs）——我想以正确的发音读这个名字；我念错——我的口误——使他能够安全回家。
我们还将继续确保我们能携带与美军一起工作的阿富汗公民一起撤走，包括口译和笔译人员——因为此后我们在当地不再保持驻军；我们不再需要他们，而他们没有工作——他们对我们的工作将同样十分重要，从而他们——他们始终十分重要——使他们的家人也不再面临危险。
为了他们能以特殊移民签证（Special Immigrant Visas）入境美国，我们已大大加快了办理手续的速度。
自我于1月20日就职以来，我们已经签发了2,500份入境美国的特殊移民签证。到目前为止，有一半不到的人员已行使自己的权利这样做。有一半的人已经登上飞机来到——乘商业航班前来。另有一半的人员表示希望留下来——至少目前如此。
我们正与国会（Congress）密切合作，要求改变授权的立法，使我们能简化批准这类签证的手续。对于在美国军事使命结束前为支持这次行动被转移的数千名阿富汗人及其家人，如果他们愿意，可以安全地在阿富汗境外等候他们入境美国的签证得到批准。
这次行动已确定美国大陆以外的一些美国设施及在第三国的设施接纳我们的阿富汗盟友，如果他们有此意愿。另外，从这个月起，我们将开始为愿意离开的阿富汗特殊移民签证申请人及其家人重新安排航班。
我们已为白宫和以国务院为首的专项小组指定一名联系人负责协调所有的相关事务
但是我们向所有这些男女人员发出的明确信息是：你们如果愿意，美国就有你们的家。我们将像你们支持我们一样支持你们。
当我决定结束美国在阿富汗的军事参与时，我的判断是，继续无限期地打这场战争不符合美利坚合众国的国家利益。我以清醒的眼光作出这一决定 ，我每天听取战场最新情况通报。
但是，对那些认为我们应该再驻留6个月或者一年的人，我请他们思考一下近期的历史。
2011年，北约盟国及伙伴同意，我们将在2014年结束作战使命。2014年，一些人提出“再延一年”。所以我们继续作战，我们继续遭受伤亡。2015年，还是照旧。于是一年又一年。
将近20年的经历向我们显示，当前的安全状况只能证明，把在阿富汗的战斗“再延一年”不是解决办法，它将导致在那里无限期地待下去。
应该由阿富汗人来决定他们国家的未来。
其他一些人更直截了当。他们说，我们应该留在阿富汗——无限期地待在阿富汗。他们指着一个事实说，我们——我们在过去一年里没有损失，所以他们称，仅仅维持现状的代价微乎其微。
但是，这忽视了在我上任时已经存在的现实和阿富汗当地的事实：塔利班（Taliban）那时拥有它最强大——它现在拥有自2001年以来最强大的军事实力。
美军在阿富汗的人数减少到了最低限度。美国，在上届政府时期，与塔利班达成协议，在过去——在今年5月1日前撤出我们的所有部队。这是我接任时的情况。那项协议是塔利班停止对美国部队发起重大攻击的原因。
如果，在4月份我宣布的是美国将退出上届政府的那项协议——也就是美国和盟国部队将在可预见的未来继续留在阿富汗，那么塔利班是会重新向我们的部队开攻的。
维持现状不是一个选择。驻留意味着美国部队的伤亡；美国男女人员重新回到一场内战中。我们有可能必须把更多部队派回阿富汗去保护我们的留守部队。
一旦我们与塔利班订立了那个协议，就不再可能靠微乎其微的兵力驻留。
所以，让我问那些希望我们驻留的人：你们愿意让更多的多少人——更多的多少千美国儿女去冒险？你们要让他们待多久？
我们军队中已经有一些人的父母20年前去阿富汗作过战。你们还要把他们的孩子和孙子也送去吗？你们会把自己的儿子或女儿送去吗？
20年过后——为培训和装备几十万阿富汗国家安全和国防部队（National Security and Defense Forces）投入了一万亿美元，有2,448名美国人丧生，20,722人受伤，还有不为人知的数千人带着无形的精神创伤返回家园——我不会在没有理由期待可以取得不同结果的情况下，把又一代美国人送往阿富汗作战。
美国不能继续把自己栓在针对20年前的世界作出反应的政策上。我们需要面对今天存在的威胁。
今天，恐怖主义的威胁已经扩散到阿富汗以外。因此，我们将重新部署我们的资源，调整我们的反恐态势，在威胁更加严重得多的地方应对它们：在南亚、中东和非洲。
但是，不要误解：我们的军事和情报领导人坚信，他们有能力防止任何在阿富汗抬头或来源于阿富汗的恐怖主义卷土重来的挑战，保护国土和我们的利益。
我们正在发展打击恐怖主义的远程能力，使我们能够将视线牢牢盯住该地区对美国的任何直接威胁，并在必要时采取迅速和果断的行动。
我们还需要集中加强美国的核心实力，迎接与中国和其他国家的战略竞争，这确实对我们的未来有决定意义。
我们必须在国内和全球战胜COVID-19疫情，确保我们为应对下一次疫情或生物威胁作好准备。
我们需要建立针对网络空间和使用新兴技术的国际准则。
我们需要协同行动，同气候变化带来的生存威胁作斗争。
从长远来说，如果我们是为今后20年而不是为过去20年而战，我们将对我们的对手和竞争者更具有威力。
最后，我要肯定美国军事人员和文职人员在过去20年里与我们的盟国和伙伴一道在阿富汗作出的巨大牺牲和奉献。
我要对他们的重大成就和他们承受的巨大个人风险以及他们家庭付出的巨大代价表示敬意：在地球上一些最恶劣的环境中——我到过那个国家的几乎所有地方——追踪恐怖主义威胁；过去20年来确保国土未再受到来自阿富汗的攻击；消灭了本·拉登。
我要感谢你们所有人对这一使命的服务和奉献，你们这么多人作出了这种付出，并且感谢你们和你们的家人在这场长期战争中作出的牺牲。
我们永远不会忘记那些在阿富汗为国贡献出全部生命的人，也不会忘记那些因在为国效劳时受伤而承受生活重大改变的人。
我们即将结束美国历时最久的战争，但是我们将永远，永远向参战的勇敢的美国爱国者致敬。
愿上帝保佑各位，愿上帝护佑我们的部队。谢谢。
欲查看原稿内容:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/

East Room 
2:09 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  Earlier today, I was briefed by our senior military and national security leaders on the status of the drawdown of U.S. forces and allied forces in Afghanistan.   
When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would be out by September, and we’re on track to meet that target.
Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st.  The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart.  
Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown.  And in this context, speed is safety. 
And thanks to the way in which we have managed our withdrawal, no one — no one U.S. forces or any forces have — have been lost.  Conducting our drawdown differently would have certainly come with a increased risk of safety to our personnel.   
To me, those risks were unacceptable.  And there was never any doubt that our military would perform this task efficiently and with the highest level of professionalism.  That’s what they do.  And the same is true of our NATO Allies and partners who have supported — we are supporting, and supporting us as well, as they conclude their retrograde.   
I want to be clear: The U.S. military mission in Afghanistan continues through the end of August.  We remain — we retain personnel and capacities in the country, and we maintain some authority — excuse me, the same authority under which we’ve been operating for some time.
As I said in April, the United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States.  We achieved those objectives.  That’s why we went.
We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.  And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.   
Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped over three hu- — nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military — of the Afghan National Security Force, and many beyond that who are no longer serving.  Add to that, hundreds of thousands more Afghan National Defense and Security Forces trained over the last two decades.
We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military.  We provided advanced weaponry.  And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment.   And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.
But most critically, as I stressed in my meeting just two weeks ago with President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future that the Afghan people want and they deserve.
In our meeting, I also assured Ghani that U.S. support for the people of Afghanistan will endure.  We will continue to provide civilian and humanitarian assistance, including speaking out for the rights of women and girls.
I intend to maintain our diplomatic presedence [presence] in Afghanistan, and we are coordinating closely with our international partners in order to continue to secure the international airport. 
And we’re going to engage in a determined diplomacy to pursue peace and a peace agreement that will end this senseless violence. 
I’ve asked Secretary of State Blinken and our Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation to work vigorously with the parties in Afghanistan, as well as the regional and international stakeholders to support a negotiated solution.   
To be clear — to be clear: Countries in the region have an essential role to play in supporting a peaceful settlement.   We’ll work with them, and they should help step up their efforts as well.   
We’re going to continue to work for the release of detained Americans, including Mark — excuse me — Fre– Frerichs — I want to pronounce the name correctly; I mis- — I misspoke — so that he can return to his family safely.
We’re also going to continue to make sure that we take on the Afghan nationals who work side-by-side with U.S. forces, including interpreters and translators — since we’re no longer going to have military there after this; we’re not going to need them and they have no jobs — who are also going to be vital to our efforts so they — and they’ve been very vital — and so their families are not exposed to danger as well.
We’ve already dramatically accelerated the procedure time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States.   
Since I was inaugurated on January 20th, we’ve already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States.  Up to now, fewer than half have exercised their right to do that.  Half have gotten on aircraft and com — commercial flights and come, and the other half believe they want to stay — at least thus far.
We’re working closely with Congress to change the authorization legislation so that we can streamline the process of approving those visas.  And those who have stood up for the operation to physically relocate thousands of Afghans and their families before the U.S. military mission concludes so that, if they choose, they can wait safely outside of Afghanistan while their U.S. visas are being processed.
The operation has identified U.S. facilities outside of the continental United States, as well as in third countries, to host our Afghan allies, if they ch- — if they so choose.  And, starting this month, we’re going to begin to re- — re- — reloc- — we’re going to begin relocation flights for Afghanistan SIV applicants and their families who choose to leave.   
We have a point person in the White House and at the State Department-led task force coordinating all these efforts. 
But our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us.
When I made the decision to end the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, I judged that it was not in the national interest of the United States of America to continue fighting this war indefinitely.  I made the decision with clear eyes, and I am briefed daily on the battlefield updates. 
But for those who have argued that we should stay just six more months or just one more year, I ask them to consider the lessons of recent history. 
In 2011, the NATO Allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014.  In 2014, some argued, “One more year.”  So we kept fighting, and we kept taking casualties.  In 2015, the same.  And on and on.
Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that “just one more year” of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution but a recipe for being there indefinitely.   
It’s up to Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country.
Others are more direct.  Their argument is that we should stay with the Afghan — in Afghanistan indefinitely.  In doing so, they point to the fact that we — we have not taken losses in this last year, so they claim that the cost of just maintaining the status quo is minimal.
But that ignores the reality and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office: The Taliban was at its strongest mil- — is at its strongest militarily since 2001.
The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum.  And the United States, in the last administration, made an agreement that the — with the Taliban to remove all our forces by May 1 of this past — of this year.  That’s what I inherited.  That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against U.S. forces. 
If, in April, I had instead announced that the United States was going to back — going back on that agreement made by the last administration — [that] the United States and allied forces would remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future — the Taliban would have again begun to target our forces.
The status quo was not an option.  Staying would have meant
U.S. troops taking casualties; American men and women back in the middle of a civil war.  And we would have run the risk of having to send more troops back into Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops.
Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible.
So let me ask those who wanted us to stay: How many more — how many thousands more of America’s daughters and sons are you willing to risk?  How long would you have them stay?
Already we have members of our military whose parents fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago.  Would you send their children and their grandchildren as well?  Would you send your own son or daughter?
After 20 years — a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of thousands of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces, 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health — I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.
The United States cannot afford to remain tethered to policies creating a response to a world as it was 20 years ago.  We need to meet the threats where they are today.
Today, the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan.  So, we are repositioning our resources and adapting our counterterrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now significantly higher: in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
But make no mistake: Our military and intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and our interests from any resurgent terrorist challenge emerging or emanating from Afghanistan. 
We are developing a counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region, and act quickly and decisively if needed.
And we also need to focus on shoring up America’s core strengths to meet the strategic competition with China and other nations that is really going to determine — determine our future. 
We have to defeat COVID-19 at home and around the world, make sure we’re better prepared for the next pandemic or biological threat. 
We need to establish international norms for cyberspace and the use of emergenc- — emerging technologies.
We need to take concerted action to fight existential threats of climate change.
And we will be more formidable to our adversaries and competitors over the long run if we fight the battles of the next 20 years, not the last 20 years.
Finally, I want to recognize the incredible sacrifice and dedication that the U.S. military and civilian personnel, serving alongside our Allies and partners, have made over the last two decades in Afghanistan. 
I want to honor the significance of what they’ve accomplished and the great personal risk they encountered and the incredible cost to their families: pursuing the terrorist threat in some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet — and I’ve been almost throughout that entire country; ensuring there hasn’t been another attack on the homeland from Afghanistan for the last 20 years; taking out Bin Laden.
I want to thank you all for your service and the dedication to the mission so many of you have given, and to the sacrifices that you and your families have made over the long course of this war. 
We’ll never forget those who gave the last full measure of devotion for their country in Afghanistan, nor those whose lives have been immeasurably altered by wounds sustained in service to their country.
We’re ending America’s longest war, but we’ll always, always honor the bravery of the American patriots who served in it.
May God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.  Thank you.
Q Mr. President — do you trust the Taliban, Mr. President?
Q Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?
THE PRESIDENT:  No, it is not.
Q Why?
THE PRESIDENT:  Because you — the Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world — and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban.  It is not inevitable.
Q Do you trust the Taliban, Mr. President?  Do you trust the Taliban, sir?
THE PRESIDENT:  You — is that a serious question?
Q It is absolutely a serious question.  Do you trust the Taliban? 
THE PRESIDENT:  No, I do not.
Q Do you trust handing over the country to the Taliban?
THE PRESIDENT:  No, I do not trust the Taliban. 
Q So why are you handing the country over?
Q Mr. President, is the U.S. responsible for the deaths of Afghans after you leave the country?
Q Mr. President, will you amplify that question, please?  Will you amplify your answer, please — why you don’t trust the Taliban?
THE PRESIDENT:  It’s a — it’s a silly question.  Do I trust the Taliban?  No.  But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more re- — more competent in terms of conducting war. 
Yes, ma’am.
Q Thank you, Mr. President.  Given the amount of money that has been spent and the number of lives that have been lost, in your view, with making this decision, were the last 20 years worth it?
THE PRESIDENT:  You know my record.  I can tell by the way you asked the question.
I opposed permanently having American forces in Afghanistan.  I argued, from the beginning, as you may recall — it came to light after the administration was over, last — our administration — no nation has ever unified Afghanistan.  No nation.  Empires have gone there and not done it.
The focus we had — and I strongly support it — and you may remember I physically went to Afghanistan.  I was up in that pass where Osama bin Laden was — allegedly escaped or — out of harm’s way.
We went for two reasons: one, to bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, as I said at the time.  The second reason was to eliminate al Qaeda’s capacity to deal with more attacks on the United States from that territory.  We accomplished both of those objectives — period.
That’s what I believed, from the beginning, why we should be and why we should have gone to Afghanistan.  That job had been over for some time.  And that’s why I believe that this is the right decision and, quite frankly, overdue.
Q Mr. President, has the civilian government hailed the people of Afghanistan?
Q Mr. President, thank you very much.  Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse.
THE PRESIDENT:  That is not true. 
Q Is it — can you please clarify what they have told you about whether that will happen or not? 
THE PRESIDENT:  That is not true.  They did not — they didn’t — did not reach that conclusion. 
Q So what is the level of confidence that they have that it will not collapse? 
THE PRESIDENT:  The Afghan government and leadership has to come together.  They clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place.  The question is: Will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it?  It’s not a question of whether they have the capacity.  They have the capacity.  They have the forces.  They have the equipment.  The question is: Will they do it? 
And I want to make clear what I made clear to Ghani: that we are not going just sus- — walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain that force.  We are.  We’re going to also work to make sure we help them in terms of everything from food necessities and other things in — in the region.  But — but, there’s not a conclusion that, in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban. 
I believe the only way there’s going to be — this is now Joe Biden, not the intelligence community — the only way there’s ultimately going to be peace and security in Afghanistan is that they work out a modus vivendi with the Taliban and they make a judgment as to how they can make peace. 
And the likelihood there’s going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely.
Q Mr. President, thank you.  But we have talked to your own top general in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.  He told ABC News the conditions are so concerning at this point that it could result in a civil war.  So, if Kabul falls to the Taliban, what will the United States do about it?
THE PRESIDENT:  Look, you’ve said two things — one, that if it could result in a civil war — that’s different than the Taliban succeeding, number one.  Number two, the question of what will be done is going to be implicated — is going to implicate the entire region as well.  There’s a number of countries who have a grave concern about what’s going to happen in Afghanistan relative to their security. 
The question is: How much of a threat to the United States of America and to our allies is whatever results in terms of a government or an agreement?  That’s when that judgement will be made. 
Q Mr. President, some Vietnamese veterans see echoes of their experience in this withdrawal in Afghanistan.  Do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in Vietnam, with some people feeling —
THE PRESIDENT:  None whatsoever.  Zero.  What you had is — you had entire brigades breaking through the gates of our embassy — six, if I’m not mistaken. 
The Taliban is not the south — the North Vietnamese army. They’re not — they’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability.  There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan.  It is not at all comparable. 
Q And, Mr. President —
Q Mr. President, can I —
THE PRESIDENT:  I’ll take him and then I’ll — and then I’ll go — I’ll go to the other side.  Hang on a second.
Q Mr. President, how serious was the corruption among the Afghanistan government to this mission failing there?
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, the mission hasn’t failed, yet.  There is in Afghanistan — in all parties, there’s been corruption.  The question is, can there be an agreement on unity of purpose?  What is the objective? 
For example, it started off — there were going to be negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan National Security Forces and the Afghan government.  That — that of — it didn’t come to — it didn’t come to fruition. 
So the question now is, where do they go from here?  That — the jury is still out.  But the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. 
Yes, ma’am.
Q Mr. President, will the United States be responsible for the loss of Afghan civilian lives that could happen after a —
THE PRESIDENT:  No.
Q — military exit?
THE PRESIDENT:  No, no, no.  It’s up to the people of Afghanistan to decide on what government they want, not us to impose the government on them.  No country has ever been able to do that. 
Keep in mind, as a student of history, as I’m sure you are, never has Afghanistan been a united country, not in all of its history.  Not in all of its history.
Q Mr. President, if this isn’t a “mission accomplished” moment, what is it, in your view?
THE PRESIDENT:  No, there’s no “mission accomplished.” 
Q How would you describe it?
THE PRESIDENT:  The mission was accomplished in that we get — got Osama bin Laden, and terrorism is not emanating from that part of the world.
Q Mr. President, if “speed is safety,” as you just said in your remarks, are you satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan nationals?  Is it happening quickly enough to your satisfaction, if it may not happen until next month, at the end?
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, much of it has already happened.  There’s already been people — about a thousand people have gotten on aircraft and come home — come to the United States already on commercial aircraft.  So, as I said, there’s over 2,500 people that as — from January to now, have gotten those visas.  And only half decided that they wanted to leave. 
The point is that I think the whole process has to be speeded up, period, in terms of being able to get these visas.
Q Why can’t the U.S. evacuate these Afghan translators to the United States to await their visa processing as some immigrants at the southern border have been allowed to do?
THE PRESIDENT:  Because the law doesn’t allow that to happen.  And that’s why we’re asking the Congress to consider changing the law. 
But in the meantime, we can guarantee their safety, if they wish to leave, by taking them to third countries and/or, while the wait is taking place, to come to — to — and hopefully, while they’re waiting there, to be able to bring them back to the United States, if that’s what they choose to do.
Q And what do you make — and what do you make, sir, of the Taliban being in Russia today?
Q Mr. President, I’m from Afghanistan.  I am Afghan (inaudible) woman.  Any message — good message for Afghan women in future?  Because they have achievement — they are really concerned about their achievement. 
THE PRESIDENT:  They are very concerned, with good reason. 
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT:  When I was in Afghanistan — I’ve been there a number of times — I remember being in a school outside and — and, by the way, the schools in Afghanistan are not fundamentally unlike schools in the West Coast, where they have, you know, a — an area in the middle that is sort of like — it looks like a playground and single-story buildings connected around it. 
And I remember saying to — speaking to a group of young women — I guess they were roughly — don’t hold me to this — they look like they’d be 14, 15 years old.  And they’re in school, and there’s a tiered classroom with single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, as I know you know. 
And I said, “You know, the United States came here to make sure that we got this terrorist, Osama bin Laden, and that terrorists didn’t amass again to — to go after our country.  And then we’re going to have to leave.”  And a young woman said, “You can’t leave.  You can’t leave.”  It was — it was heartbreaking.  “You can’t leave,” she said.  “I want to be a doctor.  I want to be a doctor.  I want to be a doctor.  If you leave, I’ll never be able to be a doctor.”  Well, that’s why we spent so much time and money training the Afghan Security Forces to do the work of defending that.  If every work —
Well, anyway — so, yes, I’m aware. 
I’m going to take one more question.
Q Mr. President, have you spoken with any Taliban officials about the withdrawal?
Q (Inaudible) the Taliban being in Russia today — the Taliban —
Q Mr. — Mr. President, I — thank you.  I wanted to ask: With the benefit of hindsight, you’ve spoken to the fact that the Taliban are sort of at their militarily strongest point that you’ve seen in 20 years.  How do you feel personally about that, with the benefit of hindsight and all of the dollars and investments and American troops that were sent there?
THE PRESIDENT:  Relative to the training and capacity of the ANSF and the training of the federal police, they’re not even close in terms of their capacity. 
I was making the point — the point was that here we were; I was — the argument is, “Well, we could stay because no one was dying.  No Americans are being shot.  So why leave?”  Once the agreement was made by the last administration that we were going to leave by May 1st, it was very clear that a Taliban that had always been a problem was even a more sophisticated problem than they were than before.  Not more sophisticated than the ANSF, the government.  More than they were.
The point being that it would have increased the prospect that they would have been able to take more lives of Americans if they decided we weren’t going to go after them.  That was the point I was making. 
Thank you all so very much.  Thank you.
2:34 P.M. EDT