President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan went from bad to worse to a worst-case scenario. Not just humiliating, it was deadly, and now there is a still-unknown to the Biden administration number of Americans left behind in a terrorist playground along with thousands of Afghan allies.
The disarrayed departure was marked with broken promises, horrifying images of Taliban executions carried out with American equipment, and still, potentially worse scenes may play out in the days ahead due to Biden's failed leadership.
From the beginning of his mismanagement of the withdrawal, President Biden intended for this to be a Presidency-defining and legacy-framing moment coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Despite claims that his administration had planned for every contingency and everything was going according to plan, there's no more pretending that it did. But that didn't stop Biden and senior administration officials from taking a victory lap Monday night anyway.
Remember, Joe Biden thought this moment would be an incredible victory lap, which is why he symbolically scheduled the Afghanistan withdrawal for September 11.
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) August 31, 2021
What a misfire.
President Biden, who didn't address the nation Monday, released a statement bragging about the "largest airlift in US history." It's true that American service members did carry out an impressive evacuation, but their commitment to our country is not something Biden can brag about while leaving Americans in harm's way. American service members succeeded, Biden failed. The success of the airlift belongs to the boots on the ground who carried it out, not the suits who bungled things so terribly that Americans were stranded.
The past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in US history. They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism, and resolve. Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 30, 2021
My full statement: https://t.co/kfLkzQtEzp
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin — the man who similarly bungled America's withdrawal from Iraq while CENTCOM Commander as it fell to ISIS during the Obama administration — released a statement Monday evening saying his department "completed the U.S. military evacuation of civilians and the removal of all forces from Afghanistan." Nowhere in his statement is mention made of the Americans or Afghan allies left behind. Instead, Austin merely claims credit for the selfless and brave work of those who carried out the final days of America's military presence in Afghanistan.
Today, we completed the U.S. military evacuation of civilians and the removal of all forces from Afghanistan. I'm deeply saddened that in the course of this historic evacuation we lost 13 of our own, along with so many others who were killed and wounded by cruel terrorists. (1/5)
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) August 31, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Monday evening in lieu of a Presidential address from Biden, and he too bragged about the number of Americans evacuated without offering a concrete plan to get the remaining U.S. citizens out of Afghanistan. And while he claimed "a new chapter of America's engagement with Afghanistan has begun," there will not be any diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and the "engagement" appears to be little more than dependence on the Taliban's goodwill to spare American lives.
U.S. military flights have ended and our troops have departed Afghanistan. A new chapter of America’s engagement with Afghanistan has begun. It’s one in which we will lead with our diplomacy.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 31, 2021
The State Department's spokesman, Ned Price, meekly tweeted without comment a literally unbelievable piece by everyone's favorite formerly "conservative" columnist Jen Rubin in a desperate attempt to change the narrative that Biden and his senior officials had failed spectacularly.
Nothing to see here: Just the State Dept spokesman resorting to tweeting out a piece from (*checks notes*) Jennifer Rubin saying they deserve more credit for a job an overwhelming number of Americans disapprove of on the execution of its disastrous Afghanistan pullout. Pathetic. https://t.co/cPNspzfOZ5
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 31, 2021