Joe Biden recalls US raid that killed Osama bin Laden 10 years after 9/11 attack

On the 10th anniversary of America’s raid that killed Osama bin Laden, US President Joe Biden said that it was a “moment I will never forget” while reaffirming his decision of removing all US troops from Afghanistan. In a statement issued by the White House, Biden, who was the Vice President under former President Barack Obama when the mission took place, said, “We followed bin Laden to the gates of hell, and we got him.” Biden, just last month announced that he would end Washington’s longest war by September 11 this year by the redeployment of remaining troops in Afghanistan.

The US President also praised the then-president Barack Obama for his 2011 decision to approve the secret operation to take down al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and lauded the special forces who carried out the mission in Pakistan. In the same, he also recalled how he watched the entire mission from a crowded White House Situation Room and how it was an unforgettable moment.

Joe Biden said, "We kept the promise to all those who lost loved ones on 9/11: that we would never forget those we had lost, and that the United States will never waver in our commitment to prevent another attack on our homeland."

Talking about the time they watched the mission in Pakistan from the White House in the US, he said, it was “a moment I will never forget -- the intelligence professionals who had painstakingly tracked him down; the clarity and conviction of President Obama in making the call; the courage and skill of our team on the ground.”

‘Al Qaeda is greatly degraded there’

While referring to his decision of retracting troops from Afghanistan, he said, “Al Qaeda is greatly degraded there. But the United States will remain vigilant about the threat from terrorist groups that have metastasized around the world.” The US President also said that the United States will continue to monitor and disrupt any kind of threat to us that emerges in the Middle Eastern nation. 

Biden said, “We will continue to monitor and disrupt any threat to us that emerges from Afghanistan. And we will work to counter terrorist threats to our homeland and our interests in cooperation with allies and partners around the world."

Image credits: AP