President Biden's handling of Afghanistan has been plagued by false promises of hopeful outcomes, overly optimistic predictions, and outright false claims about the reality on the ground. Despite initially high public support for a U.S. withdrawal from the country after nearly two decades, now just 25 percent of Americans approve of President Biden's approach to Afghanistan. Many saw the flaws in his plan and its execution as the Taliban's offensive toppled one provincial capital after another, eventually reaching Kabul and encircling the one remaining exit point: Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Among the chorus of concerned Americans watching as Biden essentially handed Afghanistan to the Taliban were veterans who served in Afghanistan, national security officials from previous administrations, and the pundit class. But warnings of a potential debacle and harsh evaluations came not just from one side. No, those who could see the flaws in — and rapidly deteriorating conditions wrought by — President Biden's strategy included officials from the Obama administration, then-Vice President Biden's colleagues.
A compilation put together by the Republican National Committee — previewed exclusively by Townhall and set to be released Friday afternoon — shows a handful of Obama administration officials slamming Biden's foolhardy and dangerous decisions in interviews since Afghanistan fell apart on Biden's watch.
"This Afghan government was going to collapse rapidly because of the way in which we got out," said former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. "We do have to regard the recent turn of events as creating a real risk of another terrorist organization, whether it’s ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, trying to re-establish a foothold in Afghanistan," he warned.
"I think of John Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs," noted former CIA Director Leon Panetta. "It unfolded quickly and the president thought everything would be fine, and that was not the case." Panetta called on Biden to "admit the mistakes that were made" and warned that the Taliban "will provide a safe haven for Al-Qaeda. Our national security is threatened," he added of the crisis Biden created.
Calling the withdrawal "so far catastrophic," Ryan Crocker — a U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan under Obama — said the departure "didn't need to be this way," but Biden "has created a global crisis." The way Biden has executed the withdrawal "does not speak to competency" and has left Crocker "with some grave questions in my mind about his ability to lead our nation as commander in chief to have read this so wrong, or even worse to have understood what was likely to happen and not care," he explained. "It has emboldened violent Islamic radicals," Crocker added, "So, they might be doing a little bit of high fiving."
"You cannot defend the execution here — this has been a disaster," criticized Obama's senior advisor David Axelrod. "It’s a failure and he needs to own that failure. He’s the commander in chief," Axelrod added.
David Petraeus, another of Obama's CIA directors, called Biden's mismanaged withdrawal "a Dunkirk moment or perhaps a Saigon moment," refuting Biden's earlier promises that his withdrawal from Afghanistan would not look like Saigon.
James Cunningham, who also served as an ambassador to Afghanistan under Obama noted "There was little to no real planning done," despite Biden's insistence that they had contingencies in place. "They were behind the curve from the beginning of the announcement."
The criticism issued by Biden's former colleagues in the Obama White House shows how ill-prepared Biden was when he finally got to the Oval Office himself. Coming from Democrats, it refutes Biden media surrogates' claims that those questioning how Biden bungled the withdrawal so bad are merely doing so to score political points.
Watch the RNC's full compilation here:
Joe Biden is to blame for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 27, 2021
Don’t take it from us, take it from Obama-Biden administration officials. pic.twitter.com/MJirAO2ErY