More than five hours late to address the nation Tuesday, President Biden finally spoke after being apparently taken to the woodshed by Taliban negotiators.
After caving to the Taliban and agreeing to their August 31st deadline to have all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, Biden began his remarks — billed as being an update regarding "ongoing efforts in Afghanistan" — by talking about the American Rescue Plan and his "Build Back Better" agenda.
Biden: "Before I update you on the meeting that I had with the leaders of the G-7 earlier today, I want to say a word about the progress we're making on the Build Back Better agenda here at home..."
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 24, 2021
I think he meant how his #BuildBackBetter agenda is actually for the Taliban.... pic.twitter.com/mUu4S4mMj5
As opposed to a compassionate commander-in-chief, Biden appeared as a partisan seeking to hype up his own agenda while leaving the Americans stranded in Kabul as, at best, the third items on his list of priorities.
Joe Biden failed to talk about the number of Americans still in Afghanistan. He said he asked Anthony Blinken to do that tomorrow.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 24, 2021
(He doesn’t have a handle on the details)
Once moving on to the actually important topic on Americans' minds, Biden had little to offer in terms of reassurances and instead chose to gaslight the American people regarding what has transpired on his watch.
“The completion by August 31st depends on the Taliban continuing to cooperate,” Biden explained, despite saying not too long ago that the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan was anything but inevitable.
BIDEN: Completion of the mission to evacuate Afghanistan depends on the cooperation of the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/WMb3CbeO6o
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 24, 2021
But now that Biden's been apparently caught flat-footed by their quick toppling of the Afghan government, the Taliban is his only hope without sending more troops into Afghanistan, so he's trying to elicit the terrorists' better angels. What a guy.
Message: US chaotic exit dependent on the Taliban. Weeks ago, he said the Taliban wouldn’t take over the country. Now he’s appealing to Taliban’s desire to be viewed as “legitimate” by the global community.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 24, 2021
The Taliban is well-known for its despicable treatment of women, children, and minorities. But Biden is left with little more than hope that by saying the United States and its allies will judge the Taliban by their actions, the Taliban might not act like the Taliban.
Biden also addressed his virtual meeting with G7 leaders that took place Tuesday morning after he undercut America's partners in order to abide by the Taliban's withdrawal deadline, another stunning move in what seems to be a rapid abandonment of U.S. allies by Biden.
Joe Biden is talking about allies right now - the fact is he abandoned them just weeks ago.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 24, 2021
WOW: Fox reporting that the G7 had an agreement in place to tell the Taliban the G7 nations would stay in #Afghanistan past August 31, and now Joe Biden has undercut our allies again. pic.twitter.com/tXGoPmA3ln
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 24, 2021
Unsurprisingly, and as has become normal for our commander-in-chief, Joe Biden took zero questions after his remarks and puttered his way out of the room.
The U.S. Commander in Chief just walked out of a press conference after addressing the crisis in Afghanistan for not even 10 minutes while American citizens are stranded.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 24, 2021
It started 5 hours after it was initially scheduled.
Biden did not take a single question.
Shameless. pic.twitter.com/jBpkpT7AF4