The Biden Administration is blaming the disastrous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021 on former president Donald Trump.
This blame was placed in a 12-page summary of the Pentagon’s review of the withdrawal released by the White House on Thursday. The National Security Council drafted the summary with input from the president.
President Joe Biden decided to evacuate Americans and American allies from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the nation in August 2021. The execution of the evacuation was regarded by many as a “catastrophic failure.”
The Kabul airport became congested with tens of thousands trying to escape the region. While evacuees were stuck, an ISIS-K terrorist bombed the airport and killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members.
In the White House’s review summary, the Biden Administration takes little responsibility for this debacle, claiming that “President Biden’s choices … were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor.”
The document asserts that “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country,” when Biden assumed the office of the presidency.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that “the purpose of [the report] is not accountability,” but “understanding” in order to make better decisions in the future, per The Associated Press.
However, Kirby admitted that “clearly we didn’t get it right” regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal.
In the review, the White House said, “We now prioritize earlier evacuations when faced with a degrading security situation.”
Former President Donald Trump responded to this report in a post on his social media network Truth Social.
“These Morons in the White House, who are systematically destroying our Country, headed up by the biggest Moron of them all, Hopeless Joe Biden, have a new disinformation game they are playing,” he said, specifying the disinformation game as the White House’s attempt to blame him “for their grossly incompetent SURRENDER in Afghanistan.”
“I watched this disaster unfold just like everyone else. I saw them take out the Military FIRST, GIVE $85 Billion of military equipment, allow killing of our soldiers, and leave Americans behind,” he continued. “Biden is responsible, no one else!”
However, Kirby maintained that the Biden Administration has “a lot to be proud of” from the evacuation.
“There was a lot that went right,” he said. “And a lot of Afghans are now living better lives … because of the sacrifices and the work of so many American government officials.”