U.S. President Joe Biden says, even with the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, he sees a greater threat from outposts of al-Qaida and its affiliated groups in other countries, and that it was no longer "rational" to continue to focus U.S. military power there.
Biden said Syria and East Africa as places where the Islamic State group poses a significantly greater threat than the Taliban in Afghanistan, adding that ISIS has metastasized. He said while the U.S. doesn't have a sizable military presence in a place like Syria, it does have an "over the horizon capability to take them out."
Biden has been facing a lot of backlash over the last few weeks, as the Taliban have successfully taken over control of Afghanistan. The U.S. president who assumed office just over 7 months also pushed back against concerns about the treatment of women and girls in the country, arguing that it's not rational to try to protect women's rights around the globe through military force.
"The idea that we're able to deal with the rights of women around the world by military force is not rational, not rational. Look what's happened in the Uighurs in western China. Look what's happening in other parts of the world. Look what's happening in the Congo I mean, there are a lot of places where women are being subjugated. The way to deal with that is not with a military invasion, the way to deal with that is putting economic, diplomatic and international pressure on them to change their behaviour," Biden said.