Tipsheet

Biden's Truth-Challenged Speech Fails to Restore Confidence

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  August 20, 2021 2:45 PM

President Biden was nearly an hour late to deliver remarks from the White House Friday afternoon as his administration scrambles to show leadership amid its humiliating mismanagement of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that's left unknown thousands of Americans stranded behind Taliban lines.

Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden defiantly insisted that the United States is in control of the situation, claiming his administration is doing "everything that we can to provide safe evacuation" for those fleeing Afghanistan.

"Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home," Biden claimed while admitting "we don't have the exact number of Americans" who are in the country, nor does his administration know where they are.

"This evacuation mission is dangerous," Biden admitted, adding he "cannot promise what the final outcome will be." Yet the President told the American people "I can assure you that I will mobilize every resource necessary" to ensure "every American who wants to leave can get to the airport."

U.S. forces are "in constant contact with the Taliban," Biden said of a tenuous agreement to secure safe passage to Hamid Karzai International Airport, warning "any attack on our forces or disruption of our operation at the airport will be met with swift and forceful response."

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"There will be plenty of time to criticize and second guess when this operation is over," Biden remarked, clearly upset with the level of criticism his mismanagement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan has received.

Finally taking questions — albeit from a pre-approved list of reporters — Biden continued to lie about the reality facing our troops, U.S. citizens, and Afghan allies on the ground in Kabul.

The President claimed that he's "seen no question of our credibility" from allies, yet British Parliament just censured him and other world leaders have expressed criticism for his actions in the last week.

The President also stated that al-Qaeda is "gone" from Afghanistan, another assertion that is simply not factual.

Biden unsuccessfully tried to dispel criticism of his administration's apparent failure to take seriously intelligence about the speed with which the Taliban could topple the Afghan government, saying "we got all kinds of cables" when the dissent cable reported by The Wall Street Journal was raised.

Biden's claims that the United States would maintain "over the horizon" capabilities to monitor future terror threats in Afghanistan were also quickly discredited in light of his administration's failure to accurately judge the Taliban threat while still on the ground.

And Biden's claim that those seeking to evacuate aren't having trouble getting safely to the airport in Kabul are debunked by the countless pictures, videos, and stories from those on the ground who have been unable to get to the relative safety of the airport.

If Biden thought this speech with a supposed show of administrative solidarity was going to stop criticism, it did the opposite.

In a statement issued just before Biden spoke, Donald Trump again slammed his successor's handling of the situation, saying "Afghanistan under Biden was not a withdrawal, it was a surrender. Will he apologize for the greatest tactical mistake in history, pulling the Military out before our citizens?"

Earlier on Friday, the White House schedule showed President Biden would depart to resume his vacation in Delaware following his remarks on Afghanistan, a plan that was canceled after swift blowback.