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Bird E-CommercePresident Biden addressed the country Thursday afternoon to defend his withdrawal strategy in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to gain ground and after U.S. troops abandoned their largest base under cover of darkness.
What he's saying: Biden set an Aug. 31 deadline to end U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, and denied that a Taliban takeover of Kabul was "inevitable" after America left.
Driving the news: U.S. troops pulled out of Bagram Air Base near Kabul in the middle of the night late last week without notifying the Afghan troops set to take control of it (the Pentagon says the Afghans knew the departure was coming, just not when).
In his remarks, Biden repeatedly put the onus for what happens next on "the Afghan people" and the government in Kabul, which he urged to "come together" and to find a way to share power with the Taliban.
Biden said the original goals of the U.S. invasion had long since been achieved, and thus America's exit was "quite frankly overdue." He added: "We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.”
What to watch: The U.S. is not the only country that's concerned about a potential implosion in Afghanistan.