“Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace pressed Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the Biden administration’s gross mishandling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan as thousands of Americans remain trapped there and are desperately attempting to get out.
In particular, Wallace asked Blinken about Biden’s multiple “flat wrong” statements about the situation on the ground in the war-torn southwest Asian country.
After asking Blinken about Biden’s claims that al Qaeda is not in Afghanistan, Wallace said, “Here’s another statement that the president made that was flat wrong, take a look.”
The Fox News host and anchor then played a video clip of Biden making the statement.
“I have seen no question of marketability from our allies around the world. I’ve got the exact opposite. We are acting with dispatch. We are committing to what we said we would do,” he said.
“Armin Laschet, the likely successor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said, ‘This is the biggest debacle that NATO has seen since its foundation,’” Wallace added before pressing: “Mr. Secretary, does the president not know what’s going on?”
“This is an incredibly emotional time for many of us and including allies and partners who have been shoulder to shoulder with us in Afghanistan for 20 years, at high cost to themselves as well as us,” Blinken hedged.
“But I’ve got to tell you this, Chris, from the get-go, I spent more time with our NATO partners in Brussels virtually, from before the president made his decision, to when he made his decision, to every time since. We’ve been working very, very closely together,” he added, which didn’t address Wallace’s question at all nor Biden’s seemingly detached state of mind.
Adding insult to injury, Blinken later told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that leaving Americans on their own to get to the airport in Kabul is “the best way to do this.”
Blinken: Leaving Americans to get to the Kabul airport on their own is “the best way to do this.” pic.twitter.com/8Ocom7JsgL
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) August 22, 2021
The unfolding disaster in Afghanistan may just be mitigated after all, but it won’t be due to anything this administration has done.
Reports on Sunday note that a combination of Afghan Mujahadeen and local militias claim to have retaken three provinces from the Taliban and inflicted heavy casualties in the process.
In a tweet that was translated, Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi, the Afghan government’s defense minister, or perhaps former defense minister, wrote that “Resistance against the terrorist Taliban is a must for each of us #Pul-e-Hesar, Deh Salah and Banu districts in Baghlan have been captured by the People’s Resistance Forces. The resistance is still alive.”
According to an Afghan media source, Tolo News, there were casualties on both sides.
“With the help of Allah, we inflicted massive casualties to the Taliban, currently Banu district is under the control of public uprising forces,” Tolo News reported, quoting a local former police commander.
“Sources said that after entering Baghlan the Taliban went on house-to-house searches, which sparked the people’s retaliation. Although the Taliban officially has not commented, there are unconfirmed reports that the Taliban is preparing to retake these districts,” the news outlet added.Popular in the Community