Some White House officials are breaking from President Joe Biden on his having left Americans behind in Afghanistan in order to stick to the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, a source told Politico.
“I am absolutely appalled and literally horrified we left Americans there,” an unnamed White House official told Politico after Biden’s address on the official end of the U.S. military’s war in Afghanistan this week.
Biden had stuck to his contention that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an “extraordinary success” in his Wednesday address.
Not only were Americans unable to reach Hamid Karzai International Airport to make the last flights out earlier this week, but last week left 13 U.S. service members and numerous Afghan civilians, including women and children, dead from a suicide bombing that the terrorist group ISIS-K had claimed was their doing.
“It was a hostage rescue of thousands of Americans in the guise of a NEO [noncombatant evacuation operations], and we have failed that no-fail mission,” the White House source added to Politico.
Another White House source also broke from Biden regarding those remarks, saying that the mission is not complete until all Americans are out of Afghanistan.
While the U.S. military had control of the Kabul airport up until the last flight out, Taliban forces were blocking passage to the airport without U.S. military resistance. Reports say that left potentially hundreds of Americans and vulnerable Afghan allies stuck behind enemy lines and facing repercussions from Taliban militants, including death.
Story cited here.
