OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A former United States General and the 45th President of the United States were among those blaming Joe Biden for the disastrous situation in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control.
Former Commander of US and International Forces, General David Petraeus, said, in an interview with Rita Cosby, that “Biden has to own this.”
He called the withdrawal of troops a “serious mistake” and warned that the decision could be “catastrophic for the United States and the world.”
“This is an enormous national security setback and it is on the verge of getting much worse unless we decide to take really significant action,” he said.
“The outcome, whether it is the Taliban taking over the country or it’s the kind of civil war that we saw in the wake of the collapse of the post-Soviet government, there are no good outcomes here,’ Petraeus said. ‘In fact there is nothing more than horrible outcomes unless we are willing to acknowledge that this is not going as more optimistic projections laid out and take stock,” the general said.
“We are now in a situation where the Taliban are trying to encircle Kabul – a city of 5 or 6 million – before hundreds of thousands of refugees starting flooding into it,” he said. “If we communicate effectively with the Taliban that they need to halt what they are doing, or we will bring the might of the U.S. military down upon them, we can stop this.”
Biden blamed the disaster that is unfolding on Donald Trump, arguing that it was Trump who cut a deal with the Taliban.
“Over our country’s 20 years at war in Afghanistan, America has sent its finest young men and women, invested nearly $1 trillion dollars, trained over 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, equipped them with state-of-the-art military equipment, and maintained their air force as part of the longest war in U.S. history. One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me,” he said as he then blamed Trump.
“When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor—which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019—that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on U.S. Forces. Shortly before he left office, he also drew U.S. Forces down to a bare minimum of 2,500. Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our Forces and our allies’ Forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict. I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth,” he said.
But Trump placed the blame on Biden in an email to supporters.
“Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues. Everyone knew he couldn’t handle the pressure. Even Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said as much. He ran out of Afghanistan instead of following the plan our Administration left for him—a plan that protected our people and our property, and ensured the Taliban would never dream of taking our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks against America. The withdrawal would be guided by facts on the ground.
“After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America’s power. What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America’s Embassy in Kabul. This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence,” he said.
