On Monday afternoon, President Biden addressed the crisis in Afghanistan that has developed as the United States has attempted to evacuate Kabul while the Taliban quickly take over the country, saying that it was his decision while also conversely saying it was former President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from the country.
“When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban,” Biden said. “Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, just a little over three months after I took office. U.S. forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in country. And the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001.”
“The choice I had to make as your president was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season,” Biden continued. “There would have been no cease-fire after May 1. There was no agreement protecting our forces after May 1. There was no status quo of stability without American casualties after May 1. There was only a cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, and lurching into the third decade of conflict.”
“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That’s why we’re still there. We were cleareyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency. But I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you.”
In a Fox News interview over the weekend, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on Biden’s pattern of “blame-shifting.”
“I wouldn’t have let my 10-year old son get away from this kind of pathetic blame-shifting,” Pompeo said. “He should be less focused on trying to blame this on someone else than to solving the problem of making sure that we protect and defend American security. Chris, it’s worth noting, this did not happen on our watch. We reduced our forces significantly and the Taliban didn’t advance on capitals all across Afghanistan. So it’s just a plain old fact that this is happening under the Biden administration’s leadership now almost a quarter of our way into his first term, this is not the way leaders lead, by pointing backwards.”
