Biden Snaps at Reporter on Afghan Withdrawal, Tantrum Plays Right Into Taliban's Hands
President Joe Biden offered the Taliban a talking point Friday, and the group was quick to capitalize upon it.
During a media appearance on Friday, Biden was asked about a State Department report that cast some blame on the Biden administration for the chaotic withdrawal of American troops .
“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?” the reporter asked, according to a White House transcript.
“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,” Biden said before leaving the media appearance.
WATCH: Pres. Biden on damning State Dept. report on Afghanistan withdrawal
“Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaeda wouldn’t 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… pic.twitter.com/JS4zNYuljg
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 2, 2023
The Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan was quick with a statement in response, according to 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 report praised its staff for their efforts in the August 2021 crisis that saw the Taliban topple the Afghan government and criticized both the Trump and Biden administration for agreeing to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
In honing in on the withdrawal itself, the report said the speed of the Biden administration’s removal of troops “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).”
The State Department just released a report that proves what we’ve all know to be true: the disastrous withdrawal & chaotic ending in Kabul could have been avoided.
Is it a coincidence this damning report is released before a holiday weekend? I think not. https://t.co/z0h59ab5M9
— Morgan Ortagus (@MorganOrtagus) July 1, 2023
“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.
As the crisis unfolded, “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.
July 8, 2021: Joe Biden said a takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is not at all inevitable and promised no Americans would need to be evacuated from our US Embassy like during Vietnam. August 15th 2021: The Taliban took over and there’s a helicopter on top of our US embassy. pic.twitter.com/9wLZEOi0oY
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 15, 2021
Among its recommendations, the report pointedly noted, “The Department must insulate contingency planning and emergency preparedness from political concerns.”
In an interview on Sunday, former Vice President Mike Pence, a contender for the 2024 Republican nomination for president, said the Biden administration should shoulder the blame for the death of 13 service members in a Kabul terrorist attack that took place during the evacuation, according to CBS.
“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 blames Biden for fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan | The Hill https://t.co/EpUCNJJ170
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 2, 2023
Pence said he and former President Donald Trump would not have withdrawn troops if the Taliban failed to live up to their end of a deal Trump made for the U.S. withdrawal.
“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.”
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