FactChecking Biden’s Statements About Afghanistan

Since the Taliban seized control of the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Aug. 15, President Joe Biden has delivered speeches and given interviews to defend his administration’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal that preceded the swift fall of the Afghan government.

Here we look at some of the president’s remarks and how they square with the facts — as we know them at this point. 

Al Qaeda Not ‘Gone’ From Afghanistan

In an Aug. 20 press conference, Biden questioned why the U.S. needed to be in Afghanistan. “What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?” he asked.

But al Qaeda is not “gone” from Afghanistan. The president has gotten it right on other occasions, including in his remarks to the nation on Aug. 16, when he has said the terrorist group has been “degraded.”

As we wrote earlier this week, the lead inspector general for the Defense Department wrote in a quarterly report to Congress that covered activity in Afghanistan from April 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020, that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been conducting “joint attacks” in Afghanistan in apparent violation of the February 2020 withdrawal agreement with the United States.