Blinken never stated that Ukraine has become the «new Afghanistan» for the U.S., nor that the end of the mission in Afghanistan was connected to «preparation for a war with Russia.» These claims were entirely fabricated by propagandists and based on a false interpretation of the U.S. Secretary of State’s words. Antony Blinken merely stated that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan should be viewed in perspective. In particular, the end of the Afghan mission now allows the U.S. and its partners to provide significant support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
«Washington has admitted that Ukraine has become the new Afghanistan for the U.S.,» this is how Russian media spread the story that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken allegedly acknowledged that the U.S. began preparing for a war with Russia early in Biden’s presidency by deciding to «abandon Afghans to their fate for the sake of Kyiv.»
«Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted during a briefing that the hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the spring of 2021 might have been linked to Washington receiving intelligence about Russia’s preparation for a special military operation in Ukraine, which eventually began only in February 2022,» writes the Russian media MK.ru.
However, during his press conference in Washington on December 22, 2022, Antony Blinken made no such statements — propagandists significantly distorted the U.S. Secretary of State’s words, taking them out of context.
Responding to a journalist’s question about whether the «lessons learned» from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan were useful in dealing with Russia and China, Antony Blinken said the issue should be viewed in perspective. He emphasized that lessons had indeed been learned, and before the decision to leave was made, «lengthy» and «intense» consultations were held with partners and allies regarding Afghanistan. Blinken also noted that the Biden administration succeeded in «ending America’s longest war.»
The U.S. Secretary of State stressed that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan did not lead to a wave of refugees or increased terrorism, as some experts had predicted. Moreover, looking at the end of the Afghan mission from today’s perspective, it has enhanced the U.S. and its partners’ ability to provide significant support to Ukraine.
«When it comes to Russia’s war against Ukraine, if we were still in Afghanistan, it would have, I think, made much more complicated the support that we’ve been able to give and that others have been able to give Ukraine to resist and push back against the Russian aggression,» Blinken stated.
As can be seen, Blinken did not state that Ukraine had become the «new Afghanistan» for the U.S., nor that the end of the mission was related to «preparation for a war with Russia.» These claims were entirely fabricated by propagandists and are based on a false interpretation of the U.S. Secretary of State’s words.
Moreover, the propagandists’ claim that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan allegedly indicates that Biden began preparing for a war with Russia at the start of his presidency is completely absurd. Since 2011, the U.S. had regularly announced its plans to end Operation Enduring Freedom (which was launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001). Barack Obama was the first to announce this, and by 2014, he had significantly reduced the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. On February 29, 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace agreement known as the «Doha Agreement,» which included provisions for the withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. Trump administration agreed to an initial reduction from 13,000 to 8,600 troops by July 2020, with a full withdrawal by May 1, 2021, if the Taliban met its obligations. The Biden administration confirmed its intention to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, only changing the deadline from May 1 to September 11, 2021. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the decision to end the operation was made to focus resources on China and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, as The Washington Post reported, U.S. intelligence, military, and diplomatic leaders only received credible evidence of Russia’s preparations for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in October 2021, after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. This fact refutes the propagandists’ claim that the end of the Afghan mission was linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Previously, StopFake has repeatedly debunked the propagandist narrative that the U.S. allegedly attacked (or was preparing to attack) Russia first, in pieces such as Fake: NATO Chief says Alliance Preparing for War with Russia for Eight Years, Fake: Ukraine Supplied Azerbaijan With Phosphorus Weapons, and Fake: US ‘Declared War on Russia’ Over Crimea.
