US President Joe Biden marks 10 years since Osama bin Laden's killing

Calling the moment US soldiers killed Osama bin Laden "a moment I will never forget", US President Joe Biden on Sunday reaffirmed USA's decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan. Sunday was the 10th anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing. Biden has already said that the US will end its war in Afghanistan by September 11. In his statement on Sunday, Biden praised former US President Barack Obama for his 2011 decision to approve secret operation targetting Laden and praised special forces that eliminated him.

"We followed bin Laden to the gates of hell -- and we got him," Biden said in a statement released by the White House. 

"We kept the promise to all those who lost loved ones on 9/11: that we would never forget those we had lost, and that the United States will never waver in our commitment to prevent another attack on our homeland."

Also Read | Roaring tanker fire kills 7, injures 14 in Afghanistan capital

Watching the operation remotely from a crowded White House Situation Room, Biden said, was "a moment I will never forget -- the intelligence professionals who had painstakingly tracked him down; the clarity and conviction of President Obama in making the call; the courage and skill of our team on the ground."

Now, as the US begins pulling the last of its troops from Afghanistan, Biden said: "Al Qaeda is greatly degraded there. But the United States will remain vigilant about the threat from terrorist groups that have metastasized around the world. 

"We will continue to monitor and disrupt any threat to us that emerges from Afghanistan. And we will work to counter terrorist threats to our homeland and our interests in cooperation with allies and partners around the world."

(With inputs from agencies)