A really rough clip from Fox News Sunday, in which the Secretary of State totally side-steps a bruising question about the president's basic awareness of key facts as his Afghanistan policy is reduced to smoldering rubble. The most charitable explanation I can think of here is that Blinken was so amped up to deploy his talking points about our alliances that he didn't pay attention to the actual question put to him, which was a polite version of 'does Biden have any clue about what's actually happening?' What we get in reply is boilerplate DC-speak, asking us to effectively ignore the extraordinary rhetorical beating the president and administration have sustained from some our closest allies in recent days. The less charitable explanation is that Blinken's bloodless deflection was a deliberate avoidance of commenting on the Commander-in-Chief's mental acuity. Watch:
Damning from Wallace: “Does the President not know what’s going on?”
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) August 22, 2021
Big theme of the Sunday shows today which was not effectively answered a single time. pic.twitter.com/oOFnp8d0gJ
Consider the statements Biden has made over the last few days, among others:
(1) His administration planned for "every contingency" ahead of our withdrawal. Nothing about that claim feels accurate in light of the reality on the ground.
(2) In spite of that first assertion, the current, rapid collapse was unforeseen. Intelligence sources and leaked cables suggest otherwise. The White House was begged for months to commence evacuations much sooner than they did:
Basic, obvious question. And yet this was from the AP in late June: https://t.co/fNd4s5n0rH pic.twitter.com/XQFzUJ9yyz
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 21, 2021
The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential dissent channel, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation, the two people said...It also urged the administration to begin evacuation flights no later than Aug. 1, the people said. On July 14, a day after the cable was sent, the White House announced Operation Allies Refuge to support the relocation of interested and eligible Afghan nationals and their immediate families who supported the U.S. government for the special immigrant visas. Evacuations didn’t kick into high gear until last week and have been complicated by the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Sunday.
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(3) Al Qaeda is "gone" from Afghanistan. Patently untrue, as his own Defense and State Departments have been forced to admit, albeit in an evasive and slippery manner.
(4) Our alliances and credibility have not been negatively impacted by this fiasco. He went further, saying "the exact opposite" is true. This is delusional, as evidenced by just a few of the comments and clips highlighted by Chris Wallace, in addition to myriad other examples. This report is particularly appalling:
US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you're making us look bad https://t.co/txtPMMy6uU
— David Freddoso (@freddoso) August 20, 2021
(5) Americans who want to get to Kabul airport and able to do so. That comment was instantly and aggressively fact-checked into oblivion by journalists and others on the ground. Biden's administration has had no choice but to concede that this is not the case, and that some Americans have been violently attacked by the Taliban during their futile, desperate efforts to reach safety. The State Department reversed course over the weekend, urging Americans to stay away from the airport because of a deteriorating security situation:
US Embassy in Kabul issues updated security alert: Americans should *not* come to Kabul airport unless instructed by US government to do so. But first, fill out the online forms. And don't even think about calling us. https://t.co/6yTiSE7Bc2 pic.twitter.com/S0T4Y0woe7
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 21, 2021
People would rather go home and take their chances with the Taliban than sit in filth at the Kabul airport. Disgraceful. ?? https://t.co/i1LbMbiKbA
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 22, 2021
.@JakeSullivan46 on Americans sheltering in place in Kabul. “We will be making a plan for you to come to the airport.” Translation: There is no plan right now for getting Americans to the airport. @brikeilarcnn @CNNSotu
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 22, 2021
Will be making. Some progress has been made, but the situation remains very messy and volatile. The National Security Adviser also tried to play dumb on Meet the Press, and ended up looking ridiculous. I rattled off the above list of obvious lies and misleading presidential statements on Media Buzz yesterday:
Planned for every contingency
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 22, 2021
Couldn’t have foreseen this
Al Qaeda gone from Afghanistan
Americans can get to Kabul airport
No US credibility hit w/ allies pic.twitter.com/WcHVSeDcbL
Press coverage has been so unremittingly negative for two reasons: Historically horrible execution of a consequential, high-profile policy, and a flurry obvious untruths in the damage control. Even if we set aside the stunning incompetence of the former failure, why has Biden compounded the problem with the latter messaging approach? Three options, as I see it: First, Biden is just lying. Deliberately and repeatedly, for political reasons, hoping the media will cover for him (not an unfounded hope, I should add, though it's not working on a disaster this unspinnable). Second, Biden's staff is keeping him in the dark, or at least partially shading harsh realities in their briefings. Third, Biden is fully briefed, but he is struggling to synthesize and retain information about these fast-moving events. To put it lightly, none of these scenarios inspire confidence. Neither does incoherence like this, regarding one of the most detrimental and incomprehensible tactical decisions undertaken in advance of the unfolding implosion:
This is as close as the Biden Administration has come to admitting that the Pentagon recommended keeping US troops in Afghanistan, a recommendation that has been confirmed by every major newspaper and media org in the country. President Biden recently denied receiving that advice
— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) August 22, 2021
Biden's bizarre denial of this widely-reported fact, basically confirmed by Sullivan, is another example that could have been added to the list above. There are some deeply committed partisans who are trying to blame and attack the media -- the pro-Democrat, Biden-supporting media -- for unfair coverage. This is self-discrediting hackery. Sometimes, reality is just so bad that even sympathetic journalists can't avoid what's right in front of them. And the American people are seeing it too:
“Biden's overall job-approval rating has dipped below 50 percent among adults for the first time in his early presidency, according to a new NBC News poll… Just a quarter of respondents approve of his handling of Afghanistan.” https://t.co/CGR5kcTDwS
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) August 22, 2021
On some of measures we find a lot of partisan agreement, more than we commonly see on other topics these days.
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) August 22, 2021
Most in each party say the way troops were withdrawn has gone badly… pic.twitter.com/AR648QYR6V
There are a few other data points in the new national surveys that will also worry the White House, including significantly falling approval on COVID, weakness on "COVID relief" and the economy, and other prominent Democrats polling terribly. And this is an indication that Afghanistan has broken through as an issue Americans care about. National humiliations will do that:
“We’ve done six or seven town halls in the last week and Afghanistan has come up in all of them.” https://t.co/csJp67zuyU
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 22, 2021
I'll leave you with another polling nugget showing broad support for helping our Afghan allies get to safety in America. But the next clip alleges another colossal Biden administration policy screw-up that will deeply complicate the process of vetting:
Wow.
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) August 22, 2021
Just one poll, but “Welcoming Afghan translators to the US” looks like the most popular and bipartisan policy idea I’ve seen in a long, long time pic.twitter.com/o09sWjrnXE
Is this confirmed? If so, whose insane idea was it & how the hell did it become US policy? I’m strongly in favor of helping the endangered Afghans who helped us all these years. But this turns a vetting challenge into yet another absolute nightmare involving the withdrawal. https://t.co/No28F7Swl2
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 21, 2021
UPDATE - Biden is reportedly mulling additional efforts to get Americans out of Afghanistan, including extending the withdrawal deadline. But the Taliban seems unwilling to play ball:
Taliban spokesman: “It's a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces... If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”https://t.co/O7nJxo3lp5 pic.twitter.com/PDv2Fn3dDm
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 23, 2021
People involved in evacuation efforts tell me the Taliban are refusing to allow passage to the airport for anyone except for American citizens and green card holders. This of course is creating fears of pending reprisals against Afghans with Special Immigrant Visas. https://t.co/ztvkZ2YHgF
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 23, 2021
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