CNN guest and political commentator Matthew Dowd has been one of the growing liberal voices to say President Joe Biden should be praised for his handling of the chaotic and last-minute evacuations from Kabul in the aftermath of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan.
According to Dowd, Biden was given a difficult situation to begin with and he has handled it well, despite the multiple deaths at Hamid Karzai International Airport and the increasing prospect American citizens will be left behind after the U.S. military withdraws from the city on August 31.
"He was dealt a horrible situation and as of today, he’s done an extremely good job in the situation. There were many people over the last seven days that said there is no possible way he could get 50,000 people out. No possible way and that was the number of people who thought had to get out. He’s got 70,000 people in the last eight days. 70,000 people out of Afghanistan in the last days and I actually think the President from what he was dealt and done over the course of the last week, should be congratulated on the way this was done," Dowd, who used to be a Republican strategist, said.
"There are many things left to handle over the course of this situation. I think the president has done unbelievable yeoman's work and he’s the first president in four presidents to actually get done what the American people wanted done in Afghanistan, which was get out," he added.
While thousands of people have been evacuated from Afghanistan, many of the known individuals have been Afghans as the White House and the Pentagon have been unable to concretely say how many American citizens have been able to leave the country. There are still reports of American citizens being unable to reach the airport in Kabul due to Taliban checkpoints and attacks.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member