I’m not sure why anyone bothers listening to Joe Biden. He’s a liar.
As PJM’s Stephen Green noted, Biden’s Friday afternoon speech was full of lies, and it’s amazing that he thought he could get away with them. Especially the whopper he told about al-Qaeda.
“Look, let’s put this thing in perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaeda gone?” Biden asked. “We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as — as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did.”
Except that’s not true. And Biden most certainly knows that. Al-Qaeda isn’t gone from Afghanistan. According to a United Nations Security Council report from June of this year, the Taliban and al-Qaeda “remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties,” and al-Qaeda has a presence in “at least 15 Afghan provinces, primarily in the east, southern and south-eastern regions.”
Even if al-Qaeda wasn’t already there, Biden’s botched withdrawal will welcome them back, meaning our entire purpose for being in the country for twenty years will have been for naught.
Indeed, The Sun reports that the Taliban is “already offering a safe haven” to al-Qaeda in its bid to create a “cradle of jihad.”
The U.S. intelligence community’s Annual Threat Assessment, published in April, says, “ISIS, al-Qa‘ida, and Iran and its militant allies continue to plot terrorist attacks against US persons and interests, including to varying degrees in the United States.” In addition, “Despite leadership losses, terrorist groups have shown great resiliency and are taking advantage of ungoverned areas to rebuild.”
NBC News says the botched withdrawal “recreates the same safe harbor Al Qaeda previously enjoyed” before we went into the country in 2001. “The likelihood that Al Qaeda will soon reconstitute its operating base in its former home and resume terror attacks on the West has again become a salient U.S. national security concern.” In fact, over a week ago, U.S. intelligence officials expressed concern that the Taliban’s takeover of the country would allow al-Qaeda to rebuild and consolidate.
And this makes our country less safe. According to a report from the Washington Post on Tuesday, “Foreign intelligence officials said they are detecting signs that the Taliban’s victory has energized global jihadists, a threat that may only grow as the Taliban releases al-Qaeda operatives who were imprisoned by the Afghan government.”
“An intelligence official from an Arab nation… said officials had seen an uptick in jihadist communications about developments in Afghanistan,” the report continued. U.S. officials also believe that terror cells could be up and running within six months.
Biden is trying to turn his botched Afghanistan withdrawal into a mission accomplished moment for him.
It’s not going to work.
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