joe biden
U.S. President Joe Biden pauses while giving remarks on the worsening crisis in Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House August 16, 2021.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
  • Biden said in an ABC interview that history will show the US 'overextended' in Afghanistan.
  • 'Are we gonna go to war because of what's goin' on in Tajikistan?' asked Biden.
  • National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made similar comments at a briefing on Tuesday.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said history will judge that the United States "overextended" its mission in Afghanistan.

The remarks followed a lengthy exchange about the symbolism of the Taliban ruling Afghanistan once more on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

"How will history judge the United States' experience in Afghanistan?" asked Stephanopoulos.

"We overextended what we needed to do to deal with our national interest," replied Biden. "Are we gonna go to war because of what's goin' on in Tajikistan? What do you think?"

Biden is deeply familiar with the war and enmeshed with the US's decisions. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the US invaded in 2001, Biden offered full-throated support, saying "whatever it takes." Years later, Biden traveled to Afghanistan and began to lose faith in the effort. As vice president in the Obama administration, he recommended a focus only on countering Al Qaeda, and against adding more troops. He was overruled. And as a presidential candidate in 2020, he pledged to bring the war to a close.

In the ABC interview, he went on to invoke the long history of Afghanistan, alluding to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the British Empire's involvement with the country, and even the conquests of Alexander the Great.

"Where in that isolated country that has never, never, never in all of history been united, all the way back to Alexander the Great, straight through the British Empire and the Russians, what is the idea?," Biden asked. "Are we gonna continue to lose thousands of Americans to injury and death to try to unite that country? What do you think? I think not."

He went on, noting that the country is bordered by US adversaries. "Is that worth our national interest to continue to spend another $1 trillion and lose thousands more American lives? For what?"

Earlier in the interview, Biden reiterated that the primary goal of the US mission in Afghanistan was counterrorism, rather than nation-building.

Biden's comments echo those made by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier in the week. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Sullivan pushed back after a reporter suggested that the US had a national security interest in having troops near, among other countries, Tajikistan.

"Would you say that there is no interest for us having some presence on the borders of Iran, on the borders of Pakistan, on the borders of - near China? Would you - or Tajikistan? Would you say that we're - that we should just give that up?" the reporter asked.

"I would say that the President does not believe that the United States should be fighting and dying in a war for the purpose of sustaining American military boots near Tajikistan or Pakistan or Iran," said Sullivan. "We would not agree that it is right to ask American soldiers to risk their lives for the purpose of maintaining a presence near Tajikistan."

Read the original article on Business Insider