{"id":60590,"date":"2021-08-27T08:53:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T13:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=60590"},"modified":"2021-08-27T08:53:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T13:53:57","slug":"deadly-kabul-attack-shakes-bidens-afghan-exit-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=60590","title":{"rendered":"Deadly Kabul attack shakes Biden\u2019s Afghan exit strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Justin Sink<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tribune News Service<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Joe Biden\u2019s bid to complete an already messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was rocked after a pair of bombings in Kabul killed dozens of people and marked the most trying day yet of his presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheer scale of the tragedy \u2014 which saw at least 13 U.S. service members and at least 60 Afghans killed \u2014 renewed criticism from lawmakers and allies over the precipitous American withdrawal and the failure to forecast the Afghan government\u2019s rapid fall at the hands of the Taliban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attacks also undercut the president\u2019s repeated arguments since taking office that he would offer a steady hand on foreign policy. And the scenes of chaos unleashed by a pair of suicide bombers drowned out efforts to cast the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan as a humanitarian success story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a somber address to the nation Thursday evening, Biden said he took responsibility for \u201call that\u2019s happened of late\u201d in Afghanistan but stood firm on his plans to withdraw American forces by Aug. 31. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blaming an offshoot of Islamic State for the deadly attacks, he also said he would go after those responsible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this \u2014 we will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay,\u201d Biden said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a speech the president never wanted to give, but which he and his advisers long feared was inevitable. The atrocity in Kabul \u2014 which saw at least 18 other American service members wounded and scores more Afghans seeking to flee their nation killed \u2014 quickly overshadowed U.S. progress in getting people out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Aug. 14, about 5,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies have been evacuated. Biden is now left trying to restore some balance to the high-wire act he\u2019s been attempting since the Taliban swept into Kabul, forced into an impossible choice between maintaining evacuation efforts for Americans stranded in the country and the knowledge that every minute on the ground means increasing danger for U.S. service members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that terrorist attacks had been expected and more were likely in the days ahead. But evacuation efforts continued, with buses of evacuees arriving at Kabul\u2019s airport in the hours after the attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what you need to know: These ISIS terrorists will not win,\u201d Biden said. \u201cWe will rescue the Americans, we will get our Afghan allies and our mission will go on. America will not be intimidated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a president who campaigned on his decades of foreign policy experience, and who said his message to the world after taking office was \u201cAmerica is back,\u201d the scenes of chaos playing out in recent days have been devastating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administration officials had hoped the quickly assembled airlift effort, combined with the winding down of America\u2019s longest war, would push Afghanistan out of voters\u2019 minds in the months and years ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polls show the withdrawal was popular, but the images out of Kabul over the past 10 days have been shocking, even for the president\u2019s allies. And they have given Biden\u2019s political enemies a powerful cudgel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans looked to seize upon the moment to pin two decades of failures in Afghanistan on Biden, with Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee calling for his resignation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But concern was evident even among Democrats, with Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate West Virginia Democrat who has served as the linchpin of Biden\u2019s domestic legislative agenda, saying in a statement that the U.S. had found itself \u201cin deep despair.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, called for Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the withdrawal of troops until every American was evacuated from Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the approximately 1,000 Americans believed to be remaining in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say they believe about two-thirds want to leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden was defiant in his remarks at the White House, maintaining that his drawdown was the correct course of action and saying former President Donald Trump \u2014 who brokered a withdrawal deal with the Taliban last year \u2014 had left him little choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had he rejected the Trump administration\u2019s agreement after taking office, Biden said his only real option would have been to \u201cpour more troops\u201d back into Afghanistan, something he\u2019s opposed going back to his tenure as Barack Obama\u2019s vice president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have never been of the view that we should be sacrificing American lives to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan, a country that has never once in its entire history been a united country,\u201d Biden said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday\u2019s violence underscored the alarm Biden has sounded in recent days. On Tuesday, the president detailed an \u201cacute and growing risk\u201d as he addressed the nation from the White House. That was echoed in talking points distributed by the White House to allies on Capitol Hill, and in a security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday telling Americans to avoid the area surrounding the airport and await specific instructions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The realization of the president\u2019s dire warnings was seen within the White House as validation of his desire to maintain the Aug. 31 deadline, despite demands from some quarters that the operation be extended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continued efforts to evacuate Americans are \u201ccertainly going to require more resources and, candidly, it\u2019s going to require a lot of bravery on the part of those American troops who are going in to get them,\u201d Mark Kimmitt, a retired Army general who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle Eastern policy under President George W. Bush, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, however, maintained the U.S. had a moral obligation to proceed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think what America says matters,\u201d the president said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difficulty of the situation in Kabul \u2014 and the unease and uncertainty it sparked \u2014 was apparent throughout the day, as White House aides hastily scrapped Biden\u2019s plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Oval Office and to later hold a virtual meeting with governors on the resettlement of Afghan evacuees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before the loss of life, the chaotic scenes in Kabul were eroding Biden\u2019s approval ratings. The president for the first time slipped underwater in the RealClearPolitics average of public polling, with 49% of Americans disapproving of his job performance, compared to 47% who approved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the attacks, Biden allies had remained hopeful the situation was politically salvageable. Earlier in the week, the White House crowed over an evacuation effort that had outpaced expectations voiced by journalists and national security experts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Biden campaign aides and Obama administration officials accused journalists of overstating the circumstances in Kabul. That hope dimmed Thursday as the realities of the bloodshed set in, and Biden\u2019s political opponents seized on the attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the attack confirmed \u201cthere are very real and disastrous consequences to the way this withdrawal has been conducted.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, widely believed to be preparing a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, issued a statement blaming the White House for the episode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we learn more details over the next 24 hours, one thing will be clear: these attacks are a result of the Biden administration\u2019s reckless failure to secure the situation before withdrawing troops,\u201d Noem said. \u201cHow we respond will come to define the Biden-Harris administration for a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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