President Joe Biden has received plenty of criticism for his execution of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but a former Republican campaign strategist believes he deserves credit for his handling of the situation.
During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for former President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign, took a different view of how Biden has handled the withdrawal.
“I actually applauded the president from the very beginning about Afghanistan,” Dowd said. “He was dealt a horrible situation, and as of today, he’s done an extremely good job in this situation.”
He went on to say people doubted that the U.S. would be able to evacuate thousands of people in a short time frame, adding, “He’s gotten out 70,000 people in the last eight days, 70,000 people.”
“And I actually think the president for what he was dealt and what he’s done over the course of the last week should be congratulated on the way this was done. Now there’s many things left to handle over the course of this situation. I think the president’s done unbelievable yeoman’s work,” Dowd added.
Watch the video below:
Former GWB Campaign Chief Matthew Dowd: Joe Biden Has Done an Extremely Good Job on Afghanistan and Deserves to Be Congratulated pic.twitter.com/sGQQhgkAiz
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 25, 2021
According to the White House, the U.S. has “evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 82,300 people on US military and coalition flights” since Aug. 14, after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
While Biden has been criticized for the execution of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki touted the operation to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies, telling reporters it is on pace to be the “largest airlift in US history” and, “I would not say that is anything but a success.”
Despite the successful evacuations, thousands are still hoping to leave Afghanistan and a new USA Today/Suffolk poll found that just 26% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal.
Additionally, his approval rating dropped to 41% as chaotic scenes surfaced from Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban take over.
Biden has defended the decision to withdraw, claiming an agreement negotiated by his predecessor forced him to choose between withdrawing or increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan. Still, he told ABC News that he would have tried to leave Afghanistan even if that agreement had not been signed.
