Biden Blames Trump For Afghanistan Exit
On Thursday, the White House published a 12-page report assessing the bungled evacuation of American troops from Afghanistan.
The National Security Council released the report, which was provided to reporters ten minutes ahead of the White House’s press briefing with John Kirby, the administration’s national security spokesman.
Kirby was swift to blame the Republican’s previous administration for the disastrous events that occurred in Afghanistan in August 2021. “Transitions matter. That’s the first lesson learned here. And the incoming administration wasn’t afforded much of one,” Kirby told reporters at the start of his speech.
Within days of the U.S. troops’ retreat, the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Under President Joe Biden’s command, U.S. forces left behind military equipment worth $85 billion. Amid the chaos at the Kabul airport, picture of evacuees who clinging to airplanes during takeoff shocked the world as a shocking representation of American decline. Moreover, in a bombing, 13 U.S. service members died, along with more than 100 Afghans. This incident was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in over a decade.
The White House’s 12-page document contains four pages that blame former President Donald Trump for the chaos in Kabul.
“The Biden administration’s options for carrying out the Afghanistan withdrawal were significantly limited by circumstances created under his predecessor,” according to the report.
The Biden White House held the Trump administration at fault for failing to provide “any strategies to perform the final withdrawal or evacuate Americans and Afghan allies.”
A report released last March by the Association of Wartime Allies estimated that approximately 78,000 Afghans who served alongside U.S. forces during the 20-year war were abandoned after the debacle.
The White House report reads, “This experience underscores the critical importance of detailed and effective transition coordination, especially when it comes to complex military operations for which decisions and execution pass from one administration to the next.”
Instead of admitting that the president was accountable for the humiliating withdrawal, Kirby emphasized Biden’s supposed leadership. “President Biden led a deliberate, rigorous, and inclusive decision-making process that was responsive to facts on the ground,” Kirby explained. “He focused keenly on the need for proper planning.”
The outcome was that tens of thousands of Afghan allies were abandoned, and 13 U.S. service members perished.
When a reporter asked Kirby, “What errors does the president believe he committed?” Kirby replied, “I won’t speak for the president on that score.”
