President Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal is getting worse all the time, but can we expect him to acknowledge his administration’s mistakes?
Not a chance. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas shares that belief, but expressed his concern that the president’s avoidance of taking personal responsibility will extend even further.
The senator said on Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News’ “Hannity” that he thinks it is likely Biden will blame Americans who end up stuck in Afghanistan after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline by saying they “didn’t want to leave, they wanted to stay there.”
Perhaps Cotton’s beliefs aren’t so far-fetched considering the context surrounding them.
Since Kabul’s fall to the Taliban, the Biden administration’s rhetoric has been despicable, no doubt.
And members of the administration remain determined to pinpoint the foreign policy error on anyone but themselves.
On Wednesday, the U.K.’s Daily Mail noted that Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to blame Americans for “not leaving fast enough” after being forewarned about the need to leave earlier this year.
“For many years we have urged Americans not to travel there. We’ve repeatedly asked Americans who are in Afghanistan to enroll [at the Kabul embassy],” Blinken said, according to the outlet.
“And since March of this year, we’ve sent 19 separate messages to [Americans] enrolled in the embassy, encouraging them and then urging them to leave the country. We’ve even made clear we would pay for their repatriation.”
Biden himself, when asked about the Taliban and slipping poll numbers during a mini news briefing from the White House’s Roosevelt Room on Sunday, defended his poorly executed Afghanistan pullout, saying it will go down in history as the “right decision to make.”
“What would you say to those Americans who no longer believe you are fit for the job?” CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe asked during the briefing.
“Look, I had a basic decision to make,” Biden answered.
“I either withdraw America from a 20-year war that, depending whose analysis you accept, cost us $150 million dollars a day for 20 years or $300 million dollars a day for 20 years.”
Later, Biden’s self-defense came more directly.
“I think that history’s gonna record this was the logical, rational and right decision to make,” he said.
The statement, as indefensible as it was, has aged even more poorly as we’ve since lost several U.S. Marines and service members in the last few days.
Two suicide bombings that occurred Thursday morning in the surrounding areas of the Kabul airport resulted in numerous deaths and injuries — among Afghans and Americans alike.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters attacked Biden for shifting the Afghanistan blame on others during a Thursday episode of “Watters World,” saying, “President Biden says the buck stops with him, but the guy just can’t stop blaming others for the mistakes.”
Watters pointed to Biden’s ABC News interview with former Clinton administration communications director George Stephanopoulos during which Biden bolstered his defenses.
“There was no consensus. You go back in look at the intelligence reports, they said it was more likely to be sometime by the end of the year,” Biden said during the interview, according to Fox News.
Stephanopoulos then reminded Biden of a top military official’s recommendation to keep at least 2,500 troops on the ground — a statement Biden was quick to dismiss.
“No, it was split. That wasn’t true,” he said. “No one said that to me that I can recall.”
It’s safe to say Biden and his affiliates are determined to pinpoint the blame for a failed foreign policy on anyone but who’s responsible for it.
We could say Cotton’s assessment is clairvoyant, or we could say he’s offering a good analysis of things to come given all that’s happened thus far.
Regardless, it seems the Biden administration is determined to be involved in everything, yet claim responsibility for nothing.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
