The US President defends himself against allegations that August 31 was the arbitrary date for leaving Kabul. He addresses the suffering of those affected by the war with empathetic words – but only the American suffering.
from
Christian Zaschke, New York
Joe Biden is always a particularly good speaker when he talks about suffering. He is less of a speaker if he feels cornered and thinks he has to justify himself. On Tuesday, the US President in the White House was both a less good, an almost aggressive speaker, then a good, sensitive speaker. Biden spoke on the occasion of the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after American soldiers had been stationed in the country for almost 20 years. He didn’t have to read the crucial sentence of his speech from the teleprompter. In a firm voice he said: “The war in Afghanistan is over.”