With his four-year term coming to an end in just one week and President-elect Trump taking over the White House once more, President Biden gave his final speech from the State Department on Monday regarding the status of American foreign policy and national security.
Despite not mentioning or naming the incoming president, Biden made reference to the previous and incoming Trump administrations and claimed that he was leaving a “strong hand to play.”
The president enumerated several significant countries that are of paramount geopolitical significance to the national security of the United States. However, he also brought up the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has been one of the president’s most criticized policy choices. ISIS-K attacked those evacuating at Abbey Gate, killing about 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members.
“[I am] the first president in decades who’s not leaving a war in Afghanistan to his successor,” Biden stated.
The president said he determined that a significant number of American forces were no longer required when he took office, citing the 2011 assassination of 9/11 mastermind Usama bin Laden during the Obama administration.
“So when I took office, I had a choice – only I saw no reason to keep thousands of servicemen in Afghanistan,” he stated. “In my view, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did.”
“Remember, critics said if we ended the war it would damage our alliances and create threats to our homeland from foreign directed terrorism out of a safe haven in Afghanistan,” the president said in an attempt to address the criticism he received regarding the withdrawal.
“Neither has occurred,” Biden declared. “When necessary, we have used our over-the-horizon capabilities to strike Afghanistan and other places, and our alliances have remained strong.
“And by ending the war, we’ve been able to focus our energy and resources on our urgent challenges,” the president stated, referring to the problems that the United States still faces from China and Russia.
Biden emphasized that Moscow’s victory in Ukraine will have far-reaching effects globally, particularly in Asia, and urged the incoming Trump administration to keep up its defense of Ukraine and deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“More needs to be done. He noted that during his presidency, the United States had invested close to $1.3 trillion in the defense industrial base and that “we can’t walk away.”
“That’s more than America did in any four-year period during the Cold War,” Biden stated. “It’s going to ensure that we’re fully equipped to fight and win wars, which is also the best way to deter wars in the first place.”
Biden also claimed that Beijing was predicted to overtake Washington economically by 2030 when he took office and praised his efforts to deter China as a significant American adversary.
“Now according to the latest predictions on China’s current course, they will never surpass us,” he stated.
He did, however, issue a serious warning to the incoming administration regarding climate change and the dangers China poses in that regard.
“The necessity of clean energy is questioned by some members of the incoming administration. They even deny the existence of climate change. In his most scathing criticism of the incoming government, he stated, “I believe they are from a different century.” “They are completely mistaken.
“It’s the single greatest existential threat to humanity – the clean energy transition is already happening,” said Biden. “China is attempting to take control of supply chains, critical materials, and clean energy manufacturing.
