Even after the withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete, Biden is playing defense. Unfortunately, so are the 100 or so Americans stranded and abandoned by their own country.
Summary
On the day of the Biden administration’s self-imposed, Taliban-demanded withdrawal deadline, President Biden spoke to the nation, calling the emergency evacuation airlift an “extraordinary success”, despite leaving Americans behind.
- Biden pledged to get those Americans out while saying he “didn’t regret pulling U.S. troops” from Afghanistan.
- One American abandoned by Biden is a female interpreter having worked with the American military for 14 years, hiding from “those people who have always wanted to kill us”.
- The Democratic talking point echo chamber is amplifying a message that removing all troops was the best way to get those left back home safely.
- Biden indicated he will not go easy on the terrorist groups that will fill the void in the absence of American troops, likely relying on drone strikes.
- New reports of a phone call between President Biden and then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on July 23 indicated neither were prepared for the rapid fall of the country to Taliban forces.
- The New York Times noted Biden’s defiant tone during his remarks, and highlighted Biden’s serial omissions when he boasted about efforts to evacuate Americans in Afghanistan.
- Vox finally came out of their hole to address the “recriminations in London and Berlin and Brussels” towards the United States for the failure of the Afghan government and the United States looking “blundering and inept.”
- CBS News buried their acknowledgement of Biden having broken his pledge to stay in Afghanistan until all Americans were evacuated.
- The Daily Wire pulled no punches, blasting Biden for repeating his “taking responsibility” for the situation in Afghanistan then proceeding to blame everyone but himself.
- OANN reported on the House of Representatives’ conservative Freedom Caucus pushing for the resignation of President Biden and other top officials now that the Afghanistan withdrawal, which they argue the President horribly mismanaged, is complete.
- KT McFarland, former Trump national security official, wrote for FoxNews.com that President Biden failed to appropriately address the nation after the completion of the Afghanistan withdrawal. “President Biden made this speech all about himself.”
Author’s Take
It’s not that the United States finally withdrew from Afghanistan, it’s that it was so badly mismanaged, the possible fall of the Afghan government completely missed by so-called experts, and the obstinacy President Biden has repeatedly displayed in public that is so infuriating to the American people.
Biden spent two weeks pretending to take responsibility then blaming everyone else. He tut-tutted the American people and lectured us. Offensive does not even begin to describe it.
© Dallas Gerber, 2021