President Joe Biden ignored attempts by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to contact him for about 36 hours as the Taliban consolidated its control over Afghanistan, according to a report.
Johnson tried to reach Biden on Monday morning, UK time, but was unable to put him on the phone until 10pm Tuesday (5pm Washington time), according to The Daily Telegraph.
The long wait came as desperate Afghans flew to Kabul International Airport in hopes of capturing evacuation flights.
The White House made no immediate comment on the report, but on Tuesday afternoon, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the president “had not yet spoken to any other world leader.” catastrophe of Afghanistan.
“I myself, secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, several other members of the senior team have collaborated regularly with foreign counterparts, and we intend to do so in the coming days, ”Sullivan added.
Once Johnson called Biden by phone, the Telegraph reported, the British prime minister urged the US president not to throw away the “gains made in Afghanistan”, an apparent response to Biden’s insistence on the statements. of the White House on Monday that the “United States mission in Afghanistan.” it was never supposed to be nation building. “
A reading of the White House call states that Biden and Johnson “discussed the need for continued close coordination between allies and democratic partners on Afghanistan’s policy” and agreed to hold a virtual meeting with other country leaders. of the G7 next week.
On Wednesday, British lawmakers rallied between party lines to condemn the failed withdrawal, as well as Biden’s statements defending it, using some of the strongest parliamentary language towards an American president in memory.
Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative MP and former British Army official, went viral for his statements in which he described as “shameful” the U.S. president’s challenge to Afghan security forces and his willingness to fight.
“Those who have never fought for the colors they want should be careful to criticize those who do,” said Tugendhat, who concluded by telling his colleagues, “It doesn’t have to be a defeat, but at the moment it feels very Well. I like it. “
Labor MP Dan Jarvis, another war veteran in Afghanistan, called Biden’s comments “particularly unpleasant and dishonorable”, while Ed Davey, leader of the center-left Liberal Democrats, described the withdrawal of the states. United Afghanistan as “not just a mistake.” [but] an avoidable mistake, from President Trump’s flawed agreement with the Taliban to President Biden’s decision to proceed and proceed in such a disastrous manner. “
Johnson also criticized, with his fellow Conservative and predecessor as Prime Minister Theresa May, recalling that he and Biden had said as recently as last month “that they did not think the Taliban were ready or able to take control of the country.”
“Was our intelligence really that poor?” she asked. “Was our understanding of the Afghan government so weak? Was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate? Did we really believe it or did we just feel like we had to follow the United States and hoped that, in a wing and in a prayer, the night would be fine? “
Johnson, who had again called on lawmakers from his August recess to attend the emergency session, insisted the UK could not continue its Afghan mission “without U.S. logistics, without U.S. air power. and without American power. “
“I really think it is an illusion to believe that there is a hunger among our partners for a continued military presence or for a military solution imposed by NATO in Afghanistan,” the prime minister added.
With the Taliban now in charge of Afghanistan, the British government’s immediate priority is to evacuate the 4,000 British citizens still in Afghanistan and the thousands of Afghans who have helped the UK over the past 20 years.
Johnson said a new “generous” refugee settlement program would allow up to 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, mostly women and children, to seek sanctuary in the UK in the coming years, including 5,000 this year. This year’s total adds to the approximately 5,000 Afghan allies the UK is now trying to evacuate from Kabul International Airport.
With publishing cables