Afganistan: The Taliban held a press conference directly from the presidential palace shortly after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera posted footage of Taliban terrorists addressing the media in the presidential palace. The distressing scene happened shortly after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and all personnel from the U.S. Embassy were evacuated, as NBC News reports.
Taliban fighters have entered Afghanistan’s presidential palace hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country — in pictures https://t.co/fqqlySOdKy pic.twitter.com/sqUZGdssMr
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 15, 2021
In the meantime, President Biden continued to “hide” from the public, with CNN remarking that many people are wondering where he was and why he is refusing to take a stand on the shocking incident.
CNN: “There are many who are asking, 'where’s the president?'"
“There are no indications that President Biden is going to address the nation.” pic.twitter.com/vUSNiIKDyE
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2021
The Taliban managed to recapture the country in only a few days, despite Biden’s Intelligence Community claiming it would take them months to take over.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Afghan military failed because they relied mainly on U.S. air support, meaning they could not operate after Biden’s decision to withdraw it.
Furthermore, retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger said:
“There is always a tendency to use the model you know, which is your own model. When you build an army like that, and it’s meant to be a partner with a sophisticated force like the Americans, you can’t pull the Americans out all of a sudden, because then they lose the day-to-day assistance that they need.”
President Biden tried to blame Former President Trump in a recent statement, but experts disagreed.
Rebeccah Heinrichs, from the Hudson Institute, slammed the U.S. president, saying:
“He begins by listing what his administration is scrambling to do to avoid American and partner deaths, and to have the ability to conduct counterterrorism operations. And this horrible scramble with high stakes is all because of Biden’s order to withdrawal immediately.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the failures in Afghanistan, but what happens as a result of the way the withdrawal happened will be Biden’s alone. He can’t pass this off on Trump. He owns all of this. Also, I don’t care if he reads a script word for word, he needs to address the nation. There are a lot of military families who deserve it and so much more.”
Additionally, Andrea Stricker, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), commented:
“The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan fits a pattern of this administration deciding on a course of foreign action without consideration for the ramifications.
Biden wanted out regardless of the cost to the Afghan people, regional security, and years of effort and dedication by many brave Americans and allies. This poorly planned exit will go down in history as a major U.S. strategic failure.”
President Biden is expected to address the nation in the next few days about the crisis in Afghanistan, an administration official sayshttps://t.co/iVS0tJWXtj pic.twitter.com/jt4xooilxZ
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) August 15, 2021
Moreover, Jamil N. Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute, as well as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, criticized:
“Pathetic for the President to lay the situation he created by his own choices at the feet of his predecessor. Having inherited whatever he inherited, it was his job to do what the nation required, and the President ought admit he made the wrong choice. Be better Joe Biden.”
