As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the Biden administration’s decision to leave Afghanistan has become an unmitigated disaster thanks to the shocking speed with which the Taliban have taken control of the country. Obviously the situation isn’t solely the fault of Joe Biden; rather, it’s a 20-year scene in the making, started by a guy who would prefer to be associated with his painting career than with the deaths of thousands of Americans and two unending wars. As my colleague Eric Lutz noted earlier, though, it is the case that “what is happening in Afghanistan is precisely what Biden said, in no uncertain terms, would not happen,” from his insistence that the Afghan government would be able to hold the line against the Taliban to his claim that under no circumstances would we see “people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan,” which was almost exactly the case. Most heartbreaking, the administration had sworn it would protect Afghan nationals and other partners on the ground, but many have been left in a terrifying state of limbo.
Still, Biden’s three presidential predecessors aren’t exactly in a position to criticize. Of course, understanding why they should keep their thoughts on the matter to themselves at this time requires self-awareness—something Donald Trump was born without, hence his absurd call over the weekend for Biden to resign:
Weirdly, Trump did not note in his statement that less than two months ago, he was bragging about how he started the Afghanistan-withdrawal process and claiming the Biden administration was powerless to stop it.
Or that someone on his team decided to delete from his website an April statement in which he said, “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do,” chastising Biden for not doing it sooner than September 11.
In related news, the Republican Party, whose members have been trashing Biden around the clock and going so far as to suggest he should be removed from office via 25th Amendment, have similarly been in damage control mode.
Biden referenced the deal Trump struck with the Taliban—which the GOP hopes people will forget—in his statement over the weekend, saying: “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 on to a fifth.”
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