Blinken blames Trump
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday vigorously defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and his agency’s handling of the chaotic and deadly evacuation mission from the war-torn country, arguing that the president “inherited” a disaster-in-the-making from Donald Trump.
In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken said the U.S. is committed to evacuating the 100 or so Americans who still want to leave the country. But he declined to say whether the U.S. would be able to evacuate the thousands of Afghan allies who applied for visas and who are at risk of retribution from the Taliban.
“We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan,” said Blinken, who is no stranger to congressional oversight, having previously served on then-Sen. Joe Biden’s staff when the Delawarean chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
As @Mik has commented, with an administration that has reversed many of its predecessor's commitments (Paris Climate, Keystone Pipeline, etc), why the sudden concerns about promises that they had made.
I call bullshit, but I'm more than open to being shown why, for 7 months, this administration could not have reversed or ignored the Trump deal (which the Talibs) broke, by the way.
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Not a fan of Biden; but when he made the original announcement, he specifically stated that he had not agreed with our presence there and while he cited President Trump's commitment, he essentially said that he agreed with the decision if not the exact timing.
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Not a fan of Biden; but when he made the original announcement, he specifically stated that he had not agreed with our presence there and while he cited President Trump's commitment, he essentially said that he agreed with the decision if not the exact timing.
@kluurs said in Blinken blames Trump:
he essentially said that he agreed with the decision if not the exact timing
IOW, we'll get out...
What was preventing the Biden administration from breaking the timing agreement? It has a history of breaking others.
The cynical side of me says he wanted to have a 9/11 "photo-op" in which he declares that we're out of Afghanistan.
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@kluurs said in Blinken blames Trump:
he essentially said that he agreed with the decision if not the exact timing
IOW, we'll get out...
What was preventing the Biden administration from breaking the timing agreement? It has a history of breaking others.
The cynical side of me says he wanted to have a 9/11 "photo-op" in which he declares that we're out of Afghanistan.
@george-k said in Blinken blames Trump:
The cynical side of me says he wanted to have a 9/11 "photo-op" in which he declares that we're out of Afghanistan.
That's exactly what he wanted to do. Meeting Trump's deadline put everything on Trump - making it a 9/11 celebration would mean taking the limelight himself. What's amusing is that once it became clear this was a bit of a clusterfuck, the decision became an orphan with both parents reluctant to claim parentage.
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There was no good way to get out and we would be criticized no matter what- never enough people to get out to meet a designation that we got all the right people out- i call BS on that. But but but the way we got out was still a disaster and I see no evidence of win win on the negotiation.
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We were going to get out, but some small things would have made a huge difference.
- Don't leave in the middle of fighting season.
- Keep Bagram.
- Allow contractors to keep the Afghani air force flying
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We were going to get out, but some small things would have made a huge difference.
- Don't leave in the middle of fighting season.
- Keep Bagram.
- Allow contractors to keep the Afghani air force flying
@jolly said in Blinken blames Trump:
We were going to get out, but some small things would have made a huge difference.
- Don't leave in the middle of fighting season.
- Keep Bagram.
- Allow contractors to keep the Afghani air force flying
Simple but true.
