US prepared for every scenario in Afghanistan: Blinken

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US is prepared for every scenario in Afghanistan.

Speaking to CBS News he said when asked if the US was prepared for the worst case scenario in Afghanistan – the failure of the US-backed government and take over by Taliban – Blinken said: “We have to be prepared for every scenario, and there are a range of them.

“And we’re looking at this – in a very clear-eyed way. But we’ve been engaged in Afghanistan for 20 years, and we sometimes forget why we went there in the first place, and that was to deal with the people who attacked us on 9/11. And we did,” Blinken responded.

Blinken also said that bringing American troops home does not mean giving up on Afghanistan as Washington will continue to support Afghanistan.

“Just because our troops are coming home doesn’t mean we’re leaving. We’re not. Our embassy’s staying, the support that we’re giving to Afghanistan when it comes to – economic support, development, humanitarian, that remains. And not only from us, from partners and allies,” he added.

This comes as the US-led NATO forces on Saturday, May 1, officially began withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, when Blinken was asked about the closure of Guantanamo Bay, he said:” We believe that it should be, that’s certainly a goal, but it’s something that we’ll bring some focus to in the months ahead.”