What has happened in Afghanistan will not stay in Afghanistan but will have a ripple effect throughout the region and beyond.
In remarks Friday at the White House, President Biden again proved he is out of touch with reality. Responding to criticism that America’s credibility has been damaged due to his precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops, Biden said, “I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world.”
Several allies have been critical, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Biden at the White House last month. She called the withdrawal “an extremely bitter development.” We were not in this alone, after all. It is right for our allies who fought valiantly with us to feel betrayed.
Perhaps the most powerful and emotional criticism came from Tom Tugendhat, a member of the British House of Commons. Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, called Biden “shameful” for disparaging the Afghan military. He said he had lost friends there and accused Biden of having “torn open” old wounds with a withdrawal that appeared to be a “defeat.”
Biden has also claimed to have been uninformed by his own intelligence agencies that disaster awaited a rapid pullout. That’s not what intelligence sources are saying in leaks to the media. This bogus claim further erodes his credibility.