In a solemn ceremony performed in the pouring rain, President Joe Biden commemorated the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by placing a wreath at the Pentagon.
The event on Sunday took place a little more than a year after Biden put an end to the protracted and expensive war that the US and its allies had fought in Afghanistan in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
The Democratic president kept his campaign promise to withdraw American troops from the nation’s longest war when he declared victory in Afghanistan. But the conflict came to a catastrophic end in August 2021 when the Afghan government, which the United States had supported, fell in the face of a Taliban onslaught that put the fundamentalist organization back in control.
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A explosion outside Kabul’s airport, where thousands of desperate Afghans gathered in hopes of escaping before the last U.S. cargo planes left over the Hindu Kush, claimed the lives of 170 Afghans and 13 American soldiers.
According to John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, Biden will acknowledge the effects of the 9/11 attacks on the United States and the rest of the world in his remarks on Sunday and pay tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died when al-Qaida hijackers crashed commercial aircraft into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center in New York, and a field in Pennsylvania.
I believe you’ll hear him discuss how America will continue to be watchful for this threat while also looking ahead to potential difficulties and threats in the future and developing the skills necessary to overcome them, according to Kirby.
Late last month, Biden quietly observed the one-year anniversary of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. In memory of the 13 American service members murdered in the explosion at the Kabul airport, he released a statement and spoke on the phone with American veterans supporting ongoing efforts to re-settle Afghans who contributed to the military effort in the country.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticised Biden’s handling of the war’s end and observed that since the U.S. left Afghanistan, the nation had fallen into a downward spiral under Taliban authority once more.
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“Now, a year after the catastrophe in August of last year, the tragic scope of the impact from President Biden’s choice has become more apparent, “added McConnell.” He further said, “Afghanistan has become an outcast in the world. Its economy has decreased by over a third. Critical levels of food insecurity are currently experienced by half of its population.”
At the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, First Lady Jill Biden will give a speech. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to New York City with her husband for a ceremony commemorating September 11th at the National September 11th Memorial
