Biden doubles down on Afghan withdrawal – but he is dancing a fine line

Published

4 years ago

August 16, 2021

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The president’s address to the nation was just that – a speech carefully scripted for domestic consumption.

Never mind that around the world there was an eagerness to understand the wisdom of his decision.

With an all-American backdrop – the stars and stripes filling the space behind him – Joe Biden made a compelling case for why America needed to leave Afghanistan.

“We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, and make sure al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again.

“We did that… Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralised democracy.”

The core of his argument was that staying in Afghanistan would have been futile. He conceded that despite trillions of dollars of military equipment and training, as well as blood and sweat, the Afghan military were unable to stand alone.

“There is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years, or 20 more years of US military boots on the ground would’ve made any difference,” he said.

He was speaking to an American public about an issue which, according to polling, does resonate: America’s forever wars.

“How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans – Afghanistan’s civil war – when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives, American lives, is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?”

Yet the fact is that at the point when Mr Biden decided to pull the plug, there were only 2,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan. They were not in an active combat role. They were not coming home in coffins. Afghanistan was, as one former US ambassador to Afghanistan put it to me, “not a red button issue”.

In fact, it is more of a red button issue now given the manner in which the US pulled out.

On this, the president offered little. Despite the images which continue to emerge from Afghanistan, including the tragic pictures of people appearing to fall from a plane as it pulled up from a crowded airstrip, he did not attempt to explain, defend or acknowledge the way in which the United States executed the pull out.

He said: “The scenes we’re seeing in Afghanistan, they’re gut-wrenching, particularly for our veterans, our diplomats, humanitarian workers, for anyone who has spent time on the ground working to support the Afghan people.

“For those who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan and for Americans who have fought and served in the country, serve our country in Afghanistan, this is deeply, deeply personal. It is for me as well.”

He danced a fine line for the home audience, claiming in one breath that this was the right decision – the only decision – but then arguing that he was forced to follow through on a bad deal which Donald Trump struck with the Taliban.

“I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, just a little over three months after I took office.

“US forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in country, and the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001.

“The choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season.”

He knows that the decision was on him. “I am president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me,” he said. And he expressed regret for how it’s unfolded: “I am deeply saddened by the facts we now face.”

He knows it has caused unease and upset among allies who wonder now about what the value of US commitment is or indeed wonder about the wisdom of American decisions and the quality of its intelligence.

He knows too that America’s foes will be sporting more than just a wry smile. But, he stood by the decision.

“I do not regret my decision to end America’s warfighting in Afghanistan and maintain a laser-focus on our counterterrorism missions there and in other parts of the world.”

And so it was a doubling down of his decision. He chose not to appear contrite about the chaos.

Most strikingly, this did not feel at all like a message for the people of Afghanistan. He talked frequently about “commitments”, but they were commitments to the American people.

The time has come, he seems to have concluded, to end American commitments to Afghanistan, however hard that may be.

US

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died, her family says

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2025

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Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died, her family says

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died aged 41.

In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Friday, her family said she took her own life in the Perth suburb of Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years.

“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said.

“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.

“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”

Police said emergency services received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in Neergabby on Friday night.

“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.

“The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”

Sexual assault claims

Ms Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, saying Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.

In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.

She stuck by her version of events until the end

Of the many dozens of victims of Jeffrey Epstein, it was Virginia Giuffre who became the most high-profile.

She was among the loudest and most compelling voices, urging criminal charges to be brought against Epstein, waving her right to anonymity in 2015.

She told how he and Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her and “passed around like a platter of fruit” to be used by rich and powerful men.

But her name and face became known around the world after she accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was 17 years old.

The picture of her together with the prince and Maxwell at the top of a staircase, his hand around her waist, is the defining image of the whole scandal.

Prince Andrew said he had no memory of the occasion. But Giuffre stuck by her version of events until the end.

‘An incredible champion’

Sigrid McCawley, Ms Giuffre’s attorney, said in a statement that she “was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”.

“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring,” she said. “The world has lost an amazing human being today.”

“Rest in peace, my sweet angel,” she added.

Dini von Mueffling, Ms Giuffre’s representative, also said that “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.

“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” she added. “She adored her children and many animals.

“She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words.

“It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”

Ms Giuffre said at the end of March she had four days to live after a car accident, posting on social media that “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure”. She was discharged from hospital eight days later.

Raised mainly in Florida, she said she was abused by a family friend early in life, which led to her living on the streets at times as a teenager.

She said that in 2000, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Ms Giuffre said Maxwell then introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, and said she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.

‘A survivor’

After meeting her husband in 2002, while taking massage training in Thailand at what she said was Epstein’s behest, she moved to Australia and had a family.

She founded the sex trafficking victims’ advocacy charity SOAR in 2015, and is quoted on its website as saying: “I do this for victims everywhere.

“I am no longer the young and vulnerable girl who could be bullied. I am now a survivor, and nobody can ever take that away from me.”

:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

US

Trump met with Zelenskyy ahead of Pope’s funeral

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2025

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Trump met with Zelenskyy ahead of Pope's funeral

Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Pope’s funeral, Vatican sources have told Sky News.

The US and Ukrainian presidents had a “very productive discussion”, according to a White House Official, and have also agreed to hold further talks after the service.

They are among world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, who are attending the funeral of Pope Francis.

Follow live updates: Zelenskyy among world leaders joining thousands of mourners

There was applause from some of those gathered in St Peter’s Square when the Ukrainian leader walked out.

The former British ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.

He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine, and is their first face-to-face meeting after a very public row between the presidents at the White House in February.

The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.

Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.

Meanwhile, the Polish Armed Forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, in a post on X.

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US

Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are ‘very close to a deal’ – and says ‘two sides should now meet’

Published

2 days ago

April 25, 2025

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Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are 'very close to a deal' - and says 'two sides should now meet'

Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” with “most of the major points agreed” – as he called for the two sides to meet.

Shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral, the US president said high-level officials should now meet to “finish [the deal] off”.

“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’.

“Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!”

Throughout the week, the US president has criticised both Ukraine and Russia for failing to agree to a peace deal.

On Wednesday, he accused Mr Zelenskyy of harming talks on Truth Social, saying “the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE”.

A day later, after nine people were killed in Kyiv after a Russian missile and drone strike, Mr Trump said: “Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”

The president and other officials have also threatened to withdraw from negotiations if no progress is made toward a deal.

It comes after Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.

The talks allowed Russia and the United States to “further bring their positions closer together” on “a number of international issues”, a Kremlin aide said.

Speaking earlier on the flight to Italy, Mr Trump said he hadn’t been fully briefed on Mr Witkoff and Mr Putin’s meeting – but added it was a “pretty good meeting”.

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.

Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not accept a deal conceding land or handing over sovereignty to Russia.

However, Mr Trump said in an interview with TIME magazine that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” describing the region as a place where Moscow has “had their submarines” and “the people speak largely Russian”.

“Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” he added. “It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”

When asked on Friday about Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Zelenskyy did not want to comment but repeated that recognising occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line.