Biden stands behind decision to withdraw troops as Afghanistan falls to Taliban

President Joe Biden has said he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, after Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday.

The president returned to Washington to address the nation after pictures emerged of Afghans attempting to flee the country by clinging to a US Air Force plane.

Mr Biden said the “cold reality” was he faced a choice between withdrawal or escalating the conflict, “lurching the country into a third decade of conflict”.

“There was never a good time to withdraw” he said, conceding that events unfolded more quickly than he had anticipated.