Biden snaps at George Stephanopoulos for mentioning Afghans falling from planes in Kabul chaos
‘That was four or five days ago!’ Biden snaps in car-crash interview after being asked about Afghans falling from planes in Kabul and claims US could NOT have gotten out ‘without chaos ensuing’
President Biden defended his handling of Afghan crisis in Wednesday interviewHe answered questions for the first time in a week as Kabul evacuation continuesBut he snapped at questions about pictures of Afghans falling to their deaths ‘That was four days ago, five days ago,’ he said about video from Monday Critics reacted with disbelief to the idea that a chaotic evacuation was inevitable‘No way to avoid this chaos? That’s a bald-faced lie,’ said Sen. Tom Cotton
President Joe Biden angrily defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying on Wednesday that chaos was unavoidable and snapping when asked about horrific images of Afghans falling from planes.
‘That was four days ago, five days ago,’ he said, even though the images of people falling to their deaths emerged on Monday.
The combative moment came during an interview with former Clinton White House official George Stephanopoulos for ABC News.
And in a second excerpt shared ahead of the chat, Biden also insisted he’d been told by his intelligence officials that Kabul would likely avoid falling to the Taliban until the end of 2021 – instead of the mere days it took.
‘There was no consensus if you go back and look at intelligence reports,’ the president said when asked if there had been intelligence failings. ‘They said that it’s more likely to be some time by the end of the year.’
Defending his decision to withdraw, Biden added: ‘Look, it was a simple choice, George,’ Biden said. ‘When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country; when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, up to 300,000 of them, just leaving their equipment and taking off — that was, you know, I’m not, that’s what happened. That’s simply what happened.’
The president also sought to scotch rumors that the US is planning to withdraw all troops aiding its rescue mission in just days, amid reports the UK is concerned about a sudden departure after being kept in the dark by its closest ally.
Biden said: ‘If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay to get them all out
President Biden defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during an interview on Wednesday, saying it was difficult to see how chaos could have been avoided
‘So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond Aug. 31?’ Stephanopoulos then asked.
‘No,’ Biden answered. ‘Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before Aug. 31.’ But he then said, ‘If we don’t, we’ll determine at the time who’s left.’
He defended the US withdrawal, which saw the Afghan government crumble and fall to the Taliban 11 days later, adding: ‘The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing — I don’t know how that happens.’
Biden has avoided taking questions on the Afghanistan crisis for more than a week.
The White House has been on the defensive for weeks as Taliban fighters raced across the country.
And officials have struggled to explain how they failed to forecast the rapid fall of Kabul and to account for chaotic scenes at the city’s airport as the embassy was evacuated.
Biden answered questions about his Afghan withdrawal for the first time in more than a week during an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News
Video captured bodies falling from a plane as it flew out of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday. Hundreds of Afghans tried to hitch rides on departing planes
Scenes of civilians swamping planes on the runway at the Kabul airport, desperate for escape, have triggered bipartisan criticism that the Biden administration should have been better prepared.
‘What did you think when you first saw those pictures?’ Stephanopoulos asked.
‘What I thought was, we have to gain control of this,’ said Biden.
‘We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.’
Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco worsened as…
The US State Department told all 11,000 Americans still in Afghanistan to make their way towards Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport to be flown homeDefense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitted that the US military could not escort anyone to the airport, amid fears Taliban fighters could kidnap and kill Americans seeking to flee the crumbling countryAt a separate briefing, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Ruth Helam claimed she’d heard it was safe on the ground for Americans, and that the Taliban had made a ‘solid commitment’ to allow Americans safe passage Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley also insisted there was ‘nothing’ US defense officials had seen that indicated Kabul would fall back into the hands of the Taliban in such a short space of time Milley claimed intelligence staff had predicted the Afghan capital could last weeks, months or even years thanks to the US-trained Afghan army, which surrendered to Taliban fighters with minimal resistanceSeeking to blame the Afghans for their defeat, Milley said: ‘This comes down to an issue of will and leadership. And no, I did not, nor did anyone else, see a collapse of an army of that size in 11 days.’
By late Tuesday, U.S. officials said they had rescued 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy personnel, except for a core group of diplomats who remained at Kabul airport.
But commanders admit they are unable to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport to help other Americans – and their Afghan allies – to safety.
Stephanopoulos asked whether the exit could have been better handled.
‘No, I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that, we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look – but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened,’ said Biden.
The world watched in horror as desperate Afghans ran alongside departing U.S. Air Force planes. Some tried to cling to the undercarriage as they sought to escape the Taliban
Some of the lucky ones managed to rush aboard a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft. The crew decided to fly them to Qatar and safety despite having some 640 people aboard
Critics expressed belief at the idea that chaos could not have been avoided after Biden defended his handling of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
Dealing with the Taliban was an unpredictable business, he added.
‘Look, one of the things we didn’t know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out. What they would do,’ he said.
‘What are they doing now? They’re cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera, but they’re having – we’re having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there.’
Critics reacted with disbelief.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton said it was impossible to see how everything went according to plan with thousands of Americans stuck behind Taliban lines.
‘No way to avoid this chaos? That’s a bald-faced lie,’ he tweeted.
A month ago, Biden told reporters at the White House that the Afghan army was better equipped and more numerous than the Taliban.
A Kabul takeover was ‘not inevitable’ and he scoffed at the idea that it would prove to be his fall of Saigon moment.
Those words have been used against him by Republicans and Democrats who say they suggest an epic failure of intelligence or decision-making.
Security experts told DailyMail.com that abandoning Bagram air base last month deprived military planners of a crucial evacuation hub, suggesting the absence of a proper plan to rescue Americans in the worst case scenario.
As a result diplomats, foreign citizens and Afghans trying to flee face crowds and Taliban checkpoints on the way to Kabul airport.
Biden said the only failure was the failure of Afghan leadership.
Taliban fighters patrol Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul. The Taliban declared an ‘amnesty’ across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed
Hundreds of people remain around Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul complicating U.S. efforts to bring home nationals and rescue Afghan allies
‘When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country; when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, up to 300,000 of them, just leaving their equipment and taking off … that’s what happened,’ he said.
‘That’s simply what happened.
‘And so the question was, in the beginning, the threshold question was, do we commit to leave within the timeframe we set, do we extend it to Sept. 1, or do we put significantly more troops in?’
And Biden again said his hands were tied by a deal he inherited from the Trump administration, committing the U.S. to leave by May 1.
‘I had a simple choice,’ he said.
‘If I said, ‘we’re gonna stay,’ then we’d better be prepared to put a whole lot hell of a lot more troops in.’
Despite his protestations, Biden’s approval rating plunged to its lowest point this week.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken on Monday, as those chaotic images were beamed around the world, found that only 46 percent of American voters supported Biden’s performance – a drop of seven points from the previous week.
Biden was roundly criticized for staying at the presidential retreat of Camp David for the weekend rather than taking charge of the crisis from the White House situation room.
He returned briefly to Washington on Monday to deliver a speech again blaming Afghan leaders and former President Trump for the collapse of Afghanistan – but left minutes later to return to Camp David.
On Tuesday, it emerged he had not telephoned any other world leaders as the Taliban advance unfolded and evacuations began.
But by Wednesday he was back again at the White House, and had spoken with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The White House said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris discussed ways to accelerate the Kabul evacuation with his national security team on Wednesday.
Biden AGAIN stands by his decision to withdraw and blames ex-Afghan president Ghani for fleeing to another country and the ‘collapse’ of the 300,000 troops they trained who dumped their weapons for the Taliban
President Biden said Wednesday it was a ‘simple choice’ to stand by his decision in withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, even as chaos unfolds across the country and the Taliban assert control.
The president again laid blame on Afghan security forces for the astonishingly rapid fall of Kabul.
‘When you look at what’s happened over the last week, was it a failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment?’ ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked the president in a sit-down interview.
‘Look, it was a simple choice, George,’ Biden said. ‘When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government, get in a plane and taking off and going to another country; when you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, up to 300,000 of them, just leaving their equipment and taking off — that was, you know, I’m not, that’s what happened. That’s simply what happened.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country on Sunday – reportedly with $169 million in cash – as the Taliban encroached on Kabul. Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was in ‘consultation’ to return to Afghanistan and had only fled to avoid more bloodshed.
‘And so the question was, in the beginning, the threshold question was, do we commit to leave within the timeframe we set, do we extend it to Sept. 1, or do we put significantly more troops in?’ Biden said.
It was the president’s first time taking any questioning from the press amid fresh scrutiny of his Afghanistan withdrawal strategy with the fall of Kabul.
He delivered an address on Afghanistan Monday, but took no questions. He gave remarks again on Wednesday, where he focused on Covid-19 matters and did not address the situation in the Middle East.
Biden, in the ABC interview, asserted the exit could not have been handled any better, and said he didn’t know how to exit without chaos ensuing.
‘So you don’t think this could have been handled — this exit could have been handled better in any way, no mistakes?’ Stephanopoulos questioned.
‘No, I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that, we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look — but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened,’ Biden replied.
Biden seemed pleasantly surprised the Taliban were letting the US evacuate Americans from Afghanistan without issue, but said his administration was having ‘more difficulty’ evacuating Afghanis who helped the US military and now have Taliban targets on their backs.
‘One of the things we didn’t know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out. What they would do. What are they doing now?
‘They’re cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera, but they’re having — we’re having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there,’ the president said.
Biden noted that violent conflict in Afghanistan had paused in recent months only due to a peace deal signed under President Trump that promised US withdrawal.
‘I had a simple choice. If I said, ‘we’re gonna stay,’ then we’d better be prepared to put a whole lot hell of a lot more troops in,’ he concluded.
‘I had a simple choice. If I said, ‘we’re gonna stay,’ then we’d better be prepared to put a whole lot hell of a lot more troops in,’ Biden said, noting he was bound by Trump’s February 2020 peace deal
‘So you don’t think this could have been handled — this exit could have been handled better in any way, no mistakes?’ ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked the president
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country on Sunday – reportedly with $169 million in cash – as the Taliban encroached on Kabul. Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was in ‘consultation’ to return to Afghanistan and had only fled to avoid more bloodshed
At one point the president became indignant as the ABC News anchor pressed him on the heart-wrenching scenes from the Hamid Karzai airport, where Afghanis desperate to flee Taliban rule clung to US aircraft as they taxied down the runway.
‘That was four days ago, five days ago,’ Biden said, asked about the images of Afghani stowaways plunging to their death as they clung to a US plane departing Kabul.
‘What did you think when you first saw those pictures?’ Stephanopoulos asked.
‘What I thought was, we have to gain control of this. We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did,’ Biden said.
Taliban fighters have formed a wall around the airport and are blocking many from even entering the grounds.
The US said that on Tuesday it had successfully evacuated 3,200 people from Afghanistan, including all embassy personnel, save a handful of diplomats working at the airport. Officials have said they hope to be able to ramp up to 9,000 evacuations per day.
At one point the president became indignant as the ABC News anchor pressed him on the heart-wrenching scenes from the Hamid Karzai airport, where Afghanis desperate to flee Taliban rule clung to US aircraft as they taxied down the runway
US Embassy personnel from Afghanistan boarding a Qatar Airways flight to Kuwait on Aug. 17
Taliban forces stand guard outside Hamid Karzai airport, where they are patrolling who is allowed to enter
Biden has stood by his decision to bring troops home by Aug. 31. For now, they are there on humanitarian grounds to help Americans and allies to America evacuate
On Monday, Biden had defended his decision to bring home troops and put the spotlight on Afghanistan leadership.
‘I stand squarely behind my decision,’ Biden said. ‘After 20 years I’ve learned the hard way. That there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That’s why we’re still there.’
‘I am president of the United States of America,’ he said. ‘And the buck stops with me.’
But only up to a point. He said the blame for such a rapid disintegration lay not with him, but his predecessor as president and Afghanistan’s leaders.
‘The truth is – this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,’ he said, his eyes narrow.
‘So what’s happened? Afghanistan’s political leaders gave up and fled the country.
‘The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.’