WASHINGTON – President Biden has regularly commented on expanding U.S. evacuation efforts in Afghanistan that critics say often represent a more rosy picture than facts on the ground and sometimes deflect guilt of the rapid deterioration of the situation.
At times, Mr Biden has seemed to downplay the difficulties facing Americans and Afghan allies trying to get to Kabul airport; has analyzed national and international disagreements over its approach; and has filed a controversial case that last week’s chaos was inevitable.
On Tuesday, while the Taliban warned that they would prevent Afghans from leaving the country, Mr. Biden and his senior aides expressed optimism that the U.S. could continue to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan allies. Witnesses on the ground said the Taliban had begun blocking roads. But a Taliban official said the new policy only applied to undocumented Afghans for overseas travel and was aimed at reducing the size of the people around the airport.
“There seems to be a disconnect between the claims of mass progress in Washington and what I am hearing from almost everyone interested in Kabul,” said Rep. Tom Malinowski (D., NJ).
Biden has said the dollar stops with him because of the situation in Afghanistan and the White House said he had been frank with the public about the challenges there were. His advisers said he was the first president in two decades to make an honest assessment of the flaws in the American approach to war.