President Biden delivered an emotional speech on Friday honoring the sacrifice of combat veterans ahead of the planned withdrawal later this year from Afghanistan — and recalled his many trips to a battle-scarred country he called “God-forsaken.”The president, addressing service members in a hangar at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, set out to honor the troops ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. He singled out the contributions of soldiers who served repeated tours overseas, and their families, whom he described as the “backbone” of the military. But he frequently wandered off script, settling on the subject most prone to pull him from a teleprompter: his late son Beau Biden, who was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in Iraq. “I shouldn’t be talking so much about my son, but I’m not going to apologize,” said Mr. Biden. The president’s speech came a day after the Pentagon confirmed that United States troops and their NATO allies intend to be out of Afghanistan by early to mid-July, well ahead of Mr. Biden’s Sept. 11 withdrawal deadline to end America’s longest war.

Source: New York Times May 28, 2021 20:37 UTC