Biden says it’s time to end America’s longest war

(CNN) - Almost twenty years of fighting.Some 2,300 American troops dead. And two trillion dollars spent on wartime efforts.

Now, President Biden is putting an end date on U.S.deployment in Afghanistan -- America's longest war.

Biden says, "It is time for American troops to come home." Tonight, America's longest war is finally coming to an end.

President Joe Biden standing in the same exact spot where president George W. Bush launched operations in Afghanistan nearly two decades ago.

"On my orders, the united states military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan."

Announcing to the world he will bring u.S. Combat troops home by the 20th anniversary of the worst terror attack on u.S. Soil.

"We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021."

A decision official described as months in the making.

Biden soliciting views from across his administration and global allies and coming to this conclusion:

"I am now the fourth u.S. President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two republicans. Two democrats. I will not pass this responsibility onto a fifth."

A momentous decision wrought with potential pitfalls.

The u.S. Intelligence community just this week explicitly stating the - quote - "Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support."

Biden making clear the u.S. Will continue diplomatic and humanitarian support, but breaking sharply from the driving force of past withdrawal timelines:

"We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal and expecting a different result."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell sharply criticizing the move.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R) minority leader:

"Apparently, we're to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it right back to them."

And issuing a warning from a similar decision in the not-so-distant past.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, minority leader:

"Our president should remember what happened when the Obama administration let political considerations rush a retreat from Iraq -- total chaos and bloodshed. And isis."

But Biden's decision went beyond just bringing troops home.

Instead, officials say it's a re-evaluation of U.S. defense priorities, one with a central focus on china - the stakes underscored at a hearing today with top intelligence officials.

Avril haines, director of national intelligence:

"China increasingly is a near-peer competitor challenging the united states in multiple areas, while pushing to revise global norms in ways that favor the authoritarian chinese system."

With intelligence officials highlighting North Korea, Iran, terror groups, and an increasingly aggressive Russia as major issues.

A daunting picture for a team still inside its first 100 days in office.

But as Biden walks slowly through Arlington cemetery's section 60, the resting place of many of those killed in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he showed no hesitation or discomfort in his decision.

For a president who was pressed to leave Afghanistan for more than a decade - was one a long time coming.