President Joe Biden said Monday that the stunning collapse of the 20-year American project in Afghanistan proved he was correct to end the U.S. mission, arguing that the Talibans takeover of the country vindicated his decision to bring home the U.S. troops stationed there.

I stand squarely behind my decision, Biden said. After 20 years, Ive learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.

The president conceded that the success of the militants did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated, over a two-week blitz of Taliban offensives. That will not sway his plans, however: After the 6,000 troops Biden recently deployed to Afghanistan evacuate Americans and U.S. allies in the coming days, we will conclude our military withdrawal and we will end Americas longest war, he said.

Bidens gamble that his defense of his policy will resonate with Americans reflects how war-weariness and skepticism of U.S. foreign policy have gained ground nationally a big change from the years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which prompted then-U.S. leaders to invade Afghanistan, dislodge the Taliban regime, and aggressively, often illegally , pursue other perceived national security threats.

Earlier this year, Biden set an Aug. 31 deadline for pulling American forces out of Afghanistan, under the terms of a deal that former President Donald Trump signed with the Taliban in 2020. Anti-war lawmakers and organizers see Bidens decision to follow through on Trumps plan as a major bipartisan victory in their bid to restrain Americas propensity for costly, brutal foreign military interventions.

Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what its always been: preventing a terrorist attack on Americas homeland, Biden said, adding that he opposed the idea of nation-building to establish a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan. He noted that he was the fourth president to oversee a U.S. deployment there: I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth president.