Inadvertently giving the Taliban a potent propaganda weapon was President Joe Biden’s remarks on Friday.
President Biden recently spoke to the media about a State Department study that partly blamed the Biden administration for the disorganized withdrawal of American soldiers.
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“Mr. President, do you admit failure in Afghanistan? Mistakes? There was a — there was a report on Afghanistan withdrawal, saying there was failure, mistakes. Do you admit there was mistakes during the withdrawal and before?” According to a transcript from the White House, the reporter inquired.
“No, no. All the evidence is coming back. Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right,” Before exiting the media event, Biden stated.
In response, the Afghan Foreign Ministry swiftly released a statement, as reported by Radio Free Europe.
“We consider remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden about the nonexistence of armed groups in Afghanistan as acknowledgement of reality,” it said.
The State Department’s report praised its personnel for their admirable efforts during the August 2021 crisis, when the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government. The Trump and Biden administrations were also criticized for their choice to remove troops from Afghanistan.
Focusing on the actual pullout, the study noted that the Biden administration moved soldiers out of the way quickly. “Compounded the difficulties the Department faced in mitigating the loss of the military’s key enablers. Critically, the decision to hand over Bagram Air Base to the Afghan government meant that Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) would be the only avenue for a possible noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO).”
“U.S. military planning for a possible NEO had been underway with post for some time, but the Department’s participation in the NEO planning process was hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the Department had the lead,” the report added.
The situation developed, “Constantly changing policy guidance and public messaging from Washington regarding which populations were eligible for relocation and how the embassy should manage outreach and flow added to the confusion and often failed to take into account key facts on the ground,” the report said.
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The study made many suggestions, which it explicitly noted: “The Department must insulate contingency planning and emergency preparedness from political concerns.”
According to CBS, former vice president and prospective 2024 Republican presidential nominee Mike Pence blamed the Biden administration for the unfortunate deaths of 13 military men in a terrorist assault that occurred during the evacuation of Kabul.
“We went 18 months without a single American casualty to the day at that Kabul airport that we lost 13 brave American service members. The blame for what happened here falls squarely on the current commander in chief,” he said.
Pence affirmed that if the Taliban had not followed their duties under the departure agreement, he and former President Donald Trump would have kept forces in Afghanistan.
“And under our administration, I promise you, that while — while it was our — it was the intention of the president, the former president to pull our troops out, when the Taliban broke the deal and moved into Mazar-e-Sharif and Joe Biden did nothing, that set into motion the catastrophe that became Afghanistan and the heartbreaking end to 20 years of conflict,” Pence said.
“I will tell you with deep conviction that that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan would never have happened under our administration, because we would have held the Taliban to the deal. And I believe at the end of the day, Afghanistan would be a much different place today,” he said.
“And frankly, our security and our long-term interests would be far better off. No whitewash from the Pentagon is going to change that. The responsibility for that disastrous withdrawal falls squarely on President Joe Biden and the American people know it.”
