Former Vice President Mike Pence ripped President Joe Biden on Sunday over the collapse in Afghanistan, saying POTUS is responsible for di...
Former Vice President Mike Pence ripped President Joe Biden on Sunday over the collapse in Afghanistan, saying POTUS is responsible for dishonoring the memories of “heroic Americans” and calling the debacle a “dark hour” in U.S. history.
“The Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan dishonors the memory of those heroic Americans who gave the last full measure of devotion and all who bravely served there defending freedom these past 20 years,” Pence wrote on social media.
“God Bless Our Troops & Our Allies in this Dark Hour,” the former VP added.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday that President Biden “stands by” his decision to publicly withdraw from Afghanistan, adding that the administration is shocked by the immediate takeover by the Taliban.
“The president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan,” Sullivan said, as highlighted by The Daily Wire. “He thought the Afghan national security forces could step up and fight because we spent 20 years, tens of billions of dollars, training them, giving them the best equipment, giving them support of U.S. forces for 20 years.”
Notably, as highlighted by The Daily Wire, POTUS said in July that it was “not inevitable” the Taliban would take over Afghanistan as the U.S. publicly withdrawals. “[T]he likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” Biden claimed.
Biden reportedly “overruled his top military commanders” when he made his decision for the public Afghanistan withdrawal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“[Biden] overruled his top military commanders: Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East; Gen. Austin Scott Miller, who led NATO forces in Afghanistan; and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Citing the risks of removing American forces to Afghan security and the U.S. Embassy, they recommended that the U.S. keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan while stepping up diplomacy to try to cement a peace agreement,” the report outlined.
The Biden administration has tried to blame former President Donald Trump for the debacle, but Trump has come out swinging.
“Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues,” Trump said in a statement. “Everyone knew he couldn’t handle the pressure. Even Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said as much. He ran out of Afghanistan instead of following the plan our Administration left for him — a plan that protected our people and our property, and ensured the Taliban would never dream of taking our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks against America. The withdrawal would be guided by facts on the ground.”
“After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone,” the former president continued. “The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America’s power. What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America’s Embassy in Kabul. This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence.”
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