Biden Defiant, Defensive Over Worsening Disaster in Afghanistan

President Biden has not taken a question from reporters on Afghanistan after two press conferences. The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse.

Summary

Taking no questions from the press, President Biden spoke about a new COVID-19 mandate for nursing home staff, ignoring Afghanistan completely.

• Washington’s favorite game, the blame game, has begun as President Biden now says chaos after the American withdrawal was inevitable.
• The White House is now in damage control mode, marshalling sympathetic groups like the liberal political advocacy organization VoteVets to speak with media in support of Biden’s actions.
• Excerpts from an interview President Biden did with ABC News showed his continued defiance and backtracking on remarks on the likelihood of the Taliban’s swift advances he made a few weeks ago.
• In the same interview, Biden said the surge of American troops will stay until all Americans have left Afghanistan, contradicting his Secretary of Defense who said they’ll evacuate Americans “until the clock runs out or we run out of capacity.”
• Biden’s defensiveness turned to flustered anger when ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos pressed the President on footage of Afghan nationals clinging to and falling from American military planes.
• Meanwhile, Afghans are facing violent crackdowns on protests after several were killed flying and waving the Afghan national flag rather than the Taliban flag, and Afghan nationals hoping to be evacuating are pleading for a speedier process.

• ABC News’ report on its interview with Biden highlighted the President’s repeated attempts to deflect any criticism and when asked how the situation devolved, Biden pointed blame directly at the president of Afghanistan for leaving the country.
• In an analysis of the Afghan refugee crisis, The Atlantic pointed to many indicators that the Biden administration did not take the situation seriously, noting “aid agencies and lawmakers alike were dumbfounded that the administration did not act with more urgency” after Congress passed legislation to speed up the visa immigration process for Afghans.
• CNN reported on the cautious skepticism and open questioning of American resolve among allies despite Biden’s “America is Back” leadership approach to international diplomacy.

• Fox News reported on the Biden administration’s shuttering of a Trump-era program, the Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau earlier this year, which was designed to assist in the evacuation of Americans overseas in disaster situations.
• The Daily Wire reported on heartbreaking developments on the ground in which Afghan mothers were passing their children through the throngs of people gathered at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, hoping they can be taken by any Western nation evacuating people.
• Townhall.com ripped the Defense Department’s press conference yesterday for what they say was Pentagon officials rejecting “any accountability or review of how things got to their current chaotic level”, including Defense Secretary Austin’s admission the United States does not have the ability to venture out past the Kabul airport to assist in gathering stranded Americans.

Author’s Take

The Biden administration’s response to criticism is what indifferent incompetence looks like. This is one of the most embarrassing episodes in American history in decades with the Defense Department unwilling to commit to rescuing every American possible. The situation is so bad even the Washington Post’s opinion section is openly condemning Biden.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021