Tajikistan Summons US Ambassador Over Joe Biden's Remarks on 9/11 Anniversary

Tajikistan has taken strong exception to US President Joe Biden's remarks on the 9/11 attacks anniversary. The Central Asian nation’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the American Ambassador to Dushanbe, John Mark Pommersheim, to protest formally against the controversial comments.

“A verbal note of protest was conveyed to the US Ambassador in connection with the statements by the President of the United States of America Mr. Joe Biden during his visit to a fire station in Pennsylvania,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The verbal note stated that such statements do not correspond to the spirit of friendly relations and partnership,” it added.

The diplomatic protest comes after Biden claimed at a 9/11 commemorative event in Pennsylvania that like Afghans, many Tajiks would also be “hanging in the well of the wheel” if the US pulled up a C-130 Hercules aircraft in Tajikistan.

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"As I read it, I am told, 70 percent of the American people think it was time to get out of Afghanistan, spending all that money. "But the flip of it is, they didn’t like the way we got out. But it’s hard to explain to anybody how else could you get out. For example, if we were in Tajikistan and we pulled up with a C-130 and said, “We’re going to let, you know, anybody who was involved with being sympathetic to us to get on the plane,” you’d have people hanging in the wheel well. Come on", Biden said during a commemorative event at a fire station in Pennsylvania.

The remarks were made while Biden was defending the US’ troop withdrawal process from Afghanistan amid widespread criticism that Washington left behind many Afghans at the risk of reprisals from the Taliban owing to their involvement with the coalition forces for the past two decades.

The Biden administration has been firm in defending its withdrawal of the American troops by the 31 August deadline.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that the Taliban would have mounted attacks on US personnel had President Biden not honoured his predecessor’s pledge of pulling out the allied forces from the region by the agreed deadline.

“By January 2021, the Taliban was in the strongest military position it had been in since 9/11 – and we had the smallest number of troops on the ground since 2001,” Blinken said at a committee hearing on Afghanistan.

“As a result, upon taking office, President Biden immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it,” the top US diplomat remarked.