President Biden was nearly an hour late to deliver remarks from the White House Friday afternoon as his administration scrambles to show leadership amid its humiliating mismanagement of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that's left unknown thousands of Americans stranded behind Taliban lines.
Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden defiantly insisted that the United States is in control of the situation, claiming his administration is doing "everything that we can to provide safe evacuation" for those fleeing Afghanistan.
"Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home," Biden claimed while admitting "we don't have the exact number of Americans" who are in the country, nor does his administration know where they are.
BIDEN:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 20, 2021
"We're going to do everything...that we can to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies, partners, and Afghans who might be targeted because of their association with the United States. Let me be clear, any American who wants to come home, we will get you home." pic.twitter.com/Bax5BXCF5Q
"This evacuation mission is dangerous," Biden admitted, adding he "cannot promise what the final outcome will be." Yet the President told the American people "I can assure you that I will mobilize every resource necessary" to ensure "every American who wants to leave can get to the airport."
U.S. forces are "in constant contact with the Taliban," Biden said of a tenuous agreement to secure safe passage to Hamid Karzai International Airport, warning "any attack on our forces or disruption of our operation at the airport will be met with swift and forceful response."
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"There will be plenty of time to criticize and second guess when this operation is over," Biden remarked, clearly upset with the level of criticism his mismanagement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan has received.
Finally taking questions — albeit from a pre-approved list of reporters — Biden continued to lie about the reality facing our troops, U.S. citizens, and Afghan allies on the ground in Kabul.
The President claimed that he's "seen no question of our credibility" from allies, yet British Parliament just censured him and other world leaders have expressed criticism for his actions in the last week.
Biden takes pre-selected questions.@ZekeJMiller: "What is your message to America's partners around the world who...question America's credibility on the world stage?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 20, 2021
BIDEN: "I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world. pic.twitter.com/LmofHyY5CY
Biden says our credibility has not been called into question around the world.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 20, 2021
Precisely that happened, repeatedly and publicly, in the House of Commons in London a few days ago.
The President also stated that al-Qaeda is "gone" from Afghanistan, another assertion that is simply not factual.
This is false. In reality, Afghanistan has one of the most expansive terrorist landscapes in the world: Al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, ISIS K, Iranian militias, and of course - the Taliban. https://t.co/mTOHS9SO7K
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) August 20, 2021
Biden unsuccessfully tried to dispel criticism of his administration's apparent failure to take seriously intelligence about the speed with which the Taliban could topple the Afghan government, saying "we got all kinds of cables" when the dissent cable reported by The Wall Street Journal was raised.
Biden's claims that the United States would maintain "over the horizon" capabilities to monitor future terror threats in Afghanistan were also quickly discredited in light of his administration's failure to accurately judge the Taliban threat while still on the ground.
Bloomberg's @justinsink with a body blow: If you mis-assessed your own withdrawal from #Afghanistan, why should we trust your judgment about "over the horizon" capability in the future? pic.twitter.com/OhwsfO1i6F
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 20, 2021
And Biden's claim that those seeking to evacuate aren't having trouble getting safely to the airport in Kabul are debunked by the countless pictures, videos, and stories from those on the ground who have been unable to get to the relative safety of the airport.
.@sramosABC: "Will you sign off on sending troops into Kabul to evacuate Americans who haven't been able to get to the airport safely?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 20, 2021
BIDEN: "We have no indication that they haven't been able to get in Kabul through the airport. We've made an agreement with the Taliban..." pic.twitter.com/KPdOGw9JkM
If Biden thought this speech with a supposed show of administrative solidarity was going to stop criticism, it did the opposite.
If this statement by President Biden is supposed to build confidence with the American people, it is a huge failure.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) August 20, 2021
Joe Biden is brazenly gaslighting us, folks. There's no other way to describe that press conference packed with lies and distortions. He's so used to the media propping him up that he thinks he can get away with telling us that 2+2=5. Completely shameless.
— Paula Bolyard (@pbolyard) August 20, 2021
In a statement issued just before Biden spoke, Donald Trump again slammed his successor's handling of the situation, saying "Afghanistan under Biden was not a withdrawal, it was a surrender. Will he apologize for the greatest tactical mistake in history, pulling the Military out before our citizens?"
Earlier on Friday, the White House schedule showed President Biden would depart to resume his vacation in Delaware following his remarks on Afghanistan, a plan that was canceled after swift blowback.
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