Remember when House Democrats accused former President Donald Trump of pressuring Ukraine to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden while leveraging Military aid as collateral during a phone call with Ukraineās president in 2019?
I do. The accusation prompted Trumpās first impeachment on the grounds of āabuse of powerā and āobstruction of Congressā that December, according to the U.S. Sun.
Now, two years later, itās President Joe Biden whoās responsible for talks with world leaders, talks like the one House Democrats used to attack Trump.
And, to afford Biden similar scrutiny to what Trump received, one particular aspect of Bidenās last call with now-former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani seems especially interesting.
Bidenās final call with Ghani came on July 23 ā three weeks before Kabul fell to Taliban forces and Islamic extremism toppled 20 years of democratic progress in the country.
The two discussed āMilitary aid, political strategy and messagingā for approximately 14 minutes, Reuters reported on Tuesday after reviewing what it said was a transcript and audio of the exchange provided by an anonymous source.
One particular aspect of the leaked transcript appears especially damning for Biden, as the New York Post pointed out.
The Post noted the transcript shows Biden āpressuredā Ghani to āācreate the perceptionā that the Taliban werenāt winning, āwhether it is true or not.'ā
āI 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,ā Biden said during the call, according to Reuters.
āAnd there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.ā
Bidenās pressuring went a step further, however, according to Reuters.
If Ghani could successfully fool the public into thinking the Afghan government had plans to control what Reuters called the āspiraling situationā of the Talibanās resurgence, Biden would offer aid.
āWe will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,ā Biden said, according to Reuters.
The outlet added that, just days before the call, the U.S. supported Afghan security forces with air strikes against the Taliban.
The Taliban maintained that these air strikes violated the Doha peace agreement signed under the Trump administration.
To provide some context, the Taliban had already advanced into approximately half of Afghanistanās district centers at the time of the phone call, the Post noted.
Just three weeks later, the nationās capital would be directly threatened by Taliban forces. Ghani fled just before the city fell.
But before that would happen, Biden advised Ghani during their exchange to employ prominent Afghan political and Military figures ā including former Afghan President Hamid Karzai ā to further generate the sense of security, the Post added.
āThat will change perception, and that will change an awful lot, I think,ā Biden said, according to Reuters.
At another point in the conversation, Biden said a change in the Afghan governmentās strategy would do more than help āon the ground,ā Reuters reported. It would generate support for the Ghani regime internationally.
āIām not a Military guy, so Iām not telling you what that plan should precisely look like, youāre going to get not only more help, but youāre going to get a perception that is going to change,ā he said, according to Reuters.
It was never OK to give Afghans or our allies a false sense of security in light of the danger steadily progressing across the country.
Afghan civilians and U.S. allies alike (particularly those in Europe) have since succumbed to a grim reality in one way or another ā either being forced to flee their homes, scramble to return to their home countries (if residing there on behalf of another nation) or stay behind in the Talibanās wake.
And it makes our president look like a liar.
Now, as September begins, the aftermath of the U.S.ās botched withdrawal from Afghanistan seems clearer every day.
Our allies are furious with us, Gold Star families mourn the loss of our 13 heroes killed in action during an ISIS suicide bombing outside of Kabulās Hamid Karzai International Airport and several Americans and U.S. allies have since been left behind in the region.
We can only expect things to get worse from here.
Amid the bombshell leaked transcript of Biden and Ghaniās exchange thatās likely to make headway in the news, itās reasonable to wonder whether Bidenās coercion and deception will stick to his image or roll off his shoulders as if heās covered in Teflon.
Considering the establishment mediaās ā and our elected officialsā ā histories of handling Biden with kid gloves, the likely answer is already clear.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
