The Biden administration’s attempt to negotiate with the Taliban to help get our people out of Afghanistan safely has resulted in yet another embarrassing defeat.
After sending CIA director William Burns to secretly meet with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul to ask him to extend the August 31 deadline for U.S. troops to airlift American citizens and Afghans out of the country, the deadline remains the same—and Taliban claims another victory over the United States. The plan to have U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by August 31 has been approved by Joe Biden.
Pentagon says number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will go to 'zero' at Aug. 31 deadline. Unclear who will protect last Americans leaving. 'There's no question,' Taliban will help complete evacuation, Kirby says. Months ago, plan was to keep 650 U.S. troops at U.S. Embassy Kabul.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 24, 2021
* PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS AGREED WITH PENTAGON RECOMMENDATION TO STICK WITH AUG 31 AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE – ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL@reuters
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) August 24, 2021
At this point, it is unclear how many American citizens remain in the country or how many have been evacuated.
REPORTER: "Can this administration tell the American people how many Americans it has evacuated from Afghanistan? Why can't you just say the number?"
KIRBY: "We're just going to leave it at several thousand right now." pic.twitter.com/VraDoBH8u9
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 24, 2021
The Biden administration had previously evacuated the military before public pressure finally resulted in Biden sending more than triple the number of troops back in order to facilitate evacuations of both Afghan refugees and American citizens. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin previously claimed that U.S. forces “don’t have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people.”
Make no mistake about it. Biden cares less about evacuating Americans than he does about fixing the huge P.R. problem created by the situation in Afghanistan. His RealClearPolitics average remains underwater. The latest polls from Rasmussen Reports and USA Today/Suffolk, have Biden’s approval rating at negative double digits. This latest defeat won’t help matters, as the Biden administration should have made absolutely clear that they would not leave a single American behind. The deadline they’ve committed to gives them just a week to accomplish their mission and leaves open the possibility that Biden will once again leave Americans behind in Afghanistan.
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