Biden Says the Afghanistan Mess Began With Trump
A White House report shifts blame for the withdrawal chaos.
The Washington Post's Editorial Board chided the Biden administration to "share blame" for the Kabul debacle after it released a report absolving the president of any responsibility for the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
"Instead of admitting errors, the 12-page document mostly repeats familiar talking points and shifts the blame to Mr. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump," the board wrote.
Released last week, the report defended Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan but didn't appear to acknowledge any mistakes made by the president. However, it repeatedly criticized the Trump administration for constraining the conditions of American evacuation, during which 13 American soldiers died in a terrorist attack while protecting the Kabul airport.
"President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," the document stated.
The Washington Post's Editorial Board said the White House Afghanistan report was a disappointment. (AP?Reuters)
The Post's board gave Biden a pass for being reluctant to take blame for the debacle because of "out-of-control Republican partisanship" leveraging the situation to score political points.
124,000 people were also evacuated under Biden's watch by the end of August thanks to the "skill and heroism of the American armed forces," the paper conceded. However, the White House's report was still labeled "a disappointment."
The board argued that much of the chaos could've been avoided if Biden did not follow through on a total withdrawal of troops that "Mr. Trump set in motion."
Biden's argument that his hands were tied because of the previous administration's negotiations was "questionable," the paper said, and he "could have tried harder."
BIDEN ADMIN DRAGGED FOR BLAMING BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL ON TRUMP: ‘DISGRACEFUL AND INSULTING’
FILE - Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani, File)
"First, Mr. Biden himself was a long-standing critic of the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan; he agreed, in principle, with Mr. Trump about the need to exit. Second, the Taliban had violated its deal with Mr. Trump, before Mr. Biden’s inauguration, by refusing to renounce terrorism and talk peace in good faith with the Western-backed government in Kabul at the time," the board wrote.
"Though he briefly attempted to jump-start the negotiations, mostly by pressuring the Afghan president, Mr. Biden could have tried harder, possibly making full U.S. withdrawal contingent on an intra-Afghan deal. His military commanders urged him to keep a small but stabilizing U.S. troop presence beyond the Trump-negotiated pullout date," the paper said.
The editorial board also wondered if the "ugly optics" in Biden's Kabul debacle might have emboldened Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, six months later.
A White House report shifted blame for the Afghanistan withdrawal chaos. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
The White House, however, denied the report was about accountability when pressed by Fox News' White House correspondent Peter Doocy last week.
"The purpose of it is not accountability. The purpose of it is to study lessons learned," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
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However, he continued to blame the Trump administration for making the withdrawal difficult.
"While it was always the president's intent to end that war, it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available to him," Kirby said.
Fox News' Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.