Biden pokes Putin, defends Afghanistan withdrawal in State Dept. address

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden argued in a farewell foreign policy address that he made the country stronger and more secure by revitalizing America’s global relationships in the face of active conflicts that began during his tenure and remain unresolved.

When he came into office four years ago, Biden said, U.S. partnerships were under strain. The U.S. was falling behind China, he said, and had troops on the ground in Afghanistan as it struggled to extricate itself from its longest-ever war.

"Compared to four years ago, America is stronger," he declared at the State Department. "Our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker. We have not gone to war to make these things happen."

US President Joe Biden speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2025, as he delivers his final foreign policy speech.
US President Joe Biden speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2025, as he delivers his final foreign policy speech.

The remarks were the first of several legacy-shaping speeches that Biden will deliver as he prepares to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Donald Trump, a populist whose platform includes making America's allies pay more for their defense.

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Trump has signaled plans to shift the U.S. away from relying on multilateral groupings like NATO that Biden embraced in favor of a national security agenda that, he says, puts America first.

Biden leaves office in a period of global turbulence, with the Israel-Hamas war ongoing; Syria under rebel leadership after its dictator, Bashar al-Assad, was suddenly ousted; and a civil war raging in Sudan.

The exiting president made the case that strong American leadership during his administration led to the isolation of Russia after its leader, President Vladimir Putin, launched an unprovoked assault on Ukraine that threatened to become a war between the world's two greatest nuclear powers.

"When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he'd conquer Kyiv in a matter of days," Biden said. "The truth is, since that war began, I'm the only one that's stood in the center of Kyiv − not him."

President Joe Biden (L) walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) in front of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, on Feb. 20, 2023.
President Joe Biden (L) walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) in front of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, on Feb. 20, 2023.

Biden's administration organized a 50-nation coalition to counter Putin, he said, and most members of NATO are now spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

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"Our alliances are stronger than they've been in decades. NATO is more capable than it's ever been," Biden said.

Biden said his administration also deserves credit for pulling together alliances such as AUKUS, with Australia and the UK, elevating the Quad, which is made up of Australia, India, Japan alongside the United States, and helping to resolve differences between South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. also armed and stood with Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and formed a coalition of more than 20 countries to counter Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Iran’s air defenses are in “shambles,” their economy is “desperate straits, and their main proxy, Hezbollah, “is badly wounded,” he said. "There’s no question, our actions contributed significantly.”

A hostage deal and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has proven elusive, but the administration says it is doing everything in its power ahead of Trump’s inauguration to get one done.

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Some 100 hostages are still in captivity, including seven Americans, three of whom the administration believes are no longer alive.

Biden stands by declaration that America’s back

Biden's predecessor − and now successor − had pitched himself as an outsider. Biden put himself as a statesman who was inherently qualified as a 36-year veteran of the Senate and onetime chair of its Foreign Relations Committee, to put the country back on course.

In a speech at the State Department at the beginning of his term, Biden made a declaration that would become a hallmark of his time in office: “I want the world to hear today: America is back.  America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy,” he said.

He said Monday, as he reflected on his legacy, that he had strengthened the country’s alliances, weakened its enemies and competitors, and kept the U.S. from putting boots on the ground in new wars.

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"My administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play, and we’re leaving them an America with more friends and stronger alliances, whose adversaries are weak and under pressure, an America that once again is leading, uniting countries, setting the agenda, bringing others together behind our plans and visions," Biden said.

Biden was accompanied at the speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, all of whom served Biden for the entirety of his term.

The gold medals for a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honoring the 13 American servicemembers killed during an attack at the Kabul Airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, pictured at the Capitol in Washington, DC, September 10, 2024.
The gold medals for a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honoring the 13 American servicemembers killed during an attack at the Kabul Airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, pictured at the Capitol in Washington, DC, September 10, 2024.

At a briefing for reporters ahead of Monday's speech, Sullivan said he does not believe Biden's foreign policy was the reason voters chose Trump over outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who stepped in as the Democratic nominee after Biden ended his reelection bid.

Sullivan said the administration was working to put the incoming administration in the "best possible position" when it comes to the health of its alliances and its capacity to defend itself and its allies.

"What they do with that is fundamentally up to them. And then the American people will judge whether they like that or don't like that. We are just going to do the best we can," he said.

Biden in his speech urged the incoming Trump administration not to halt the transition his administration started toward clean energy.

"I know some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for clean energy. They don't even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They're wrong," he said. "They are dead wrong. It's the single greatest existential threat to humanity."

Biden also spoke about efforts to position the U.S. as a leader in the technology revolution and artificial intelligence.

One area in which Biden was on the defense, was his 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which Trump and many Republicans say showed weakness and provided an opening for Russia to invade Ukraine a little more than six months later.

More: Republicans in Congress fault Biden over chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal

“When they saw that, they said these guys are incompetent, they don't know what they're doing. But we know what we're doing now, and that's going to all end,” Trump said at a Jan. 7 news conference.

In the withdrawal, which was negotiated by the Trump administration and executed by the Biden administration, 13 Americans died during a terrorist attack outside the Kabul airport.

Biden said he grieves for the service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. "Ending the war was the right thing to do, and I believe history will reflect that," Biden said.

Contributing: Joey Garrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden defends record on Ukraine, Gaza in final foreign policy address