Democrat President Joe Biden reportedly pressured Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and offered aid during a phone call in late July to “project a different picture” than the reality of the Taliban’s advances in the country, according to a transcript of the call reviewed by Reuters.
“In the call, Biden offered aid if Ghani could publicly project he had a plan to control the spiraling situation in Afghanistan,” Reuters reported. “The U.S. president also advised Ghani to get buy-in from powerful Afghans for a military strategy going forward, and then to put a ‘warrior’ in charge of the effort, a reference to Defense Minister General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.”
“In much of the call, Biden focused on what he called the Afghan government’s ‘perception’ problem,” Reuters said.
“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden reportedly told Ghani. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
In response, Ghani warned President Biden that Afghanistan was “facing a full-scale invasion, composed of Taliban, full Pakistani planning and logistical support, and at least 10-15,000 international terrorists, predominantly Pakistanis thrown into this.”
Reuters further reviewed a second call that took place the next day with top officials in the Biden administration, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and U.S. Central Command Commander General Frank McKenzie.
“The perception in the United States, in Europe and the media sort of thing is a narrative of Taliban momentum, and a narrative of Taliban victory,” Milley told Ghani. “And we need to collectively demonstrate and try to turn that perception, that narrative around.”
As Reuters explained, “In a little over two weeks after Biden’s call with Ghani, the Taliban captured several provincial Afghan capitals and the United States said it was up to the Afghan security forces to defend the country… On August 11, U.S. intelligence reports indicated Taliban fighters could isolate Afghanistan’s capital in 30 days and possibly take it over within 90. Instead, the fall happened in less than a week.”
