Prez: A’stan troops have to fight Tali themselves

President Biden on Tuesday said Afghanistan’s government forces must “fight for themselves” to halt rapid Taliban gains as US troops exit this month — reiterating that he does “not regret” his decision to withdraw from the 20-year war.

“They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Biden told reporters at the White House after the Islamic fundamentalist group seized their seventh of 34 Afghan provincial capitals.

Biden said that Afghan troops “outnumber the Taliban” and that “I do not regret my decision” to remove most US troops from the country by Aug. 31.

“We spent over $1 trillion over 20 years. We retrained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together,” Biden said.

The president said the US will continue to support the notoriously corrupt and ineffective Afghan government, including by paying all military salaries — but that US troops won’t do much of the fighting against the Taliban.

“We lost thousands — lost, in death and injury — thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves,” Biden said.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan peace talks, is in Doha, Qatar, this week.

The State Department said Tuesday that Khalilzad “will press the Taliban to stop their military offensive and to negotiate a political settlement, which is the only path to stability and development in Afghanistan.”