Biden vows to get all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, says 'time to end the forever war'

President Biden on Wednesday officially announced his plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying America should be focused on protecting the homeland from foreign attacks but not building up Afghanistan.

Biden, in a brief White House address, promising to pull all troops out by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, plotted in Afghanistan.

"I believe that our presence in Afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place – to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again," he said. "We did that, we accomplish that objective."

The U.S will begin withdrawing troops on May 1, in a coordinated effort with American allies.

"I'm now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan," Biden said. "I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. I concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home." 

About  2,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, along with roughly 7,000 NATO forces.

Afghanistan government and former Trump administration had set a May 1 deadline to remove all troops.

Biden ended his speech by saying, "It's time to end the forever war."