As a hasty American withdrawal and rapid Taliban takeover continues in Afghanistan, many conservative pundits and politicians have slammed President Joe Biden for previous comments on July 8 which all but guaranteed the current scenario was impossible, having boasted of the Afghan army’s capabilities while declaring, “There’s going to be no circumstance where you are going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.”
Following Biden’s announcement of a timeline for a drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan last month, the terrorist group began a full-fledged offensive against the Afghan government and a reconquest of many of the nation’s major cities.
Many recalled the president’s remarks last month, touting the strength of the Afghan military and denying the U.S. would evacuate in extreme haste under military pressure as it did in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
“The Taliban is not the North Vietnamese army,” Biden assured. “They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability.”
“There’s going to be no circumstance where you are going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan,” he added. “It is not at all comparable.”
However, on Sunday morning, in what is being termed “Joe Biden’s Saigon,” helicopters were seen airlifting American embassy personnel from the U.S. embassy where the American flag was removed as a final step in the mass and rapid evacuation of U.S. citizens as Taliban terrorists entered the city’s outlying districts.
In addition, the United States ambassador in Afghanistan was forced to flee the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for the airport.
“Absolutely unreal, disconnected and incompetent commentary from the President,” wrote former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).
“No wonder he is hiding at Camp David. No teleprompter can give him the answers to the questions he would be asked today. What a disaster,” he added.
“If Donald Trump had said this on 8th July, and just a month later we saw the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, this press conference would be being broadcast by BBC News and Channel 4 News as evidence of his foreign policy ignorance, strategic incompetence, and sheer uselessness,” wrote conservative academic and author Adrian Hilton.
“And he [Biden] was the hope that the US & the world was seemingly blessed with earlier this year!” wrote political analyst Vikram Sampath.
“Incompetent, irresponsible, bumbling liar is what he proved to be, who will have the blood of millions on his hands for callously throwing the world & Afghanistan to terror,” he added.
“REMINDER: Joe Biden ‘has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades’ according to Biden’s former DOD Secretary Bob Gates,” wrote Steve Guest, special advisor for communications for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“Fmr. SecDef Gates made it clear in 2014 that Biden was wrong 100% of the time on foreign policy decisions over the last 4 decades,” wrote former Department of Defense (DoD) advisor Cory Mills.
“July 8, 2021: Joe Biden said a takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is not at all inevitable and promised no Americans would need to be evacuated from our US Embassy like during Vietnam,” wrote congressional candidate Robby Starbuck.
“August 15th 2021: The Taliban took over and there’s a helicopter on top of our US embassy.”
“The Taliban has taken over all of Afghanistan less than a month after Joe Biden told us all it was impossible,” wrote political commentator Clay Travis.
“The press conference that’s going to bury president Joe Biden,” tweeted The Jewish Voice.
“Remember, @POTUS on July 8: ‘The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,’” wrote Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX).
“NOW: US Ambassador and flag have left #Kabul,” he added. “This heartbreaking failure could have been avoided.”
“Until this moment, the corporate media could lie about how terrible the Biden administration has been. Inflation, rising crime, border chaos, China emboldened, middle class in revolt over public schools – they rationalized all of it,” wrote media personality Ben Domenech.
“They can’t rationalize this. It’s a gutpunch,” he added.
“Even the co-conspirators in the mainstream media will not be able to ignore this, the greatest blunder in US military history!” wrote conservative analyst Graham Ledger.
“Now I understand why Biden takes few questions, rarely holds press conferences, and often relies on pre-approved lists of reporters to call on when he does take questions,” wrote Chad Gilmartin, former principal assistant White House press secretary.
“This is Biden’s legacy on foreign policy,” wrote journalist Jack Posobiec. “Forever.”
“100% we are being humiliated on the world stage,” wrote reporter Elijah Schaffer.
“‘America is back!’” he mocked.
“Mr. President – Afghan President Ghani has now fled the country,” wrote Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK). “37 days after you assured reporters it couldn’t happen – the Taliban HAVE taken over.”
“Remember a month ago when Biden said the possibility of the Taliban ‘overrunning everything’ was ‘highly unlikely?’” asked Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA).
“Joe Biden is embarrassing the United States on the world stage,” he added.
“Biden tells media only a month ago Afghan army is 300,000-strong and as well-equipped as any army in the world. So no need to fear a Taliban takeover,” wrote media personality Andrew Neil.
“Sometimes he has no idea what he’s talking about,” he added.
“An incomprehensible failure by the Biden administration,” wrote former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
“Biden just over a month ago: ‘…[T]he likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,’” she added.
“Biden only WEEKS AGO: ‘The likelihood there’s going to be, the Taliban overrunning everything, and owning the whole county is highly unlikely,’” wrote Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
“I’ve asked numerous questions of the Biden Admin as to their plans. They never had any answers,” she added. “This is Joe Biden’s Saigon.”
“Where in his administration did President Biden get the intelligence estimate that it was ‘highly unlikely’ the Taliban would take back over Afghanistan with the execution of this withdrawal strategy?” asked Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY).
“This contradicts EVERYTHING I had seen and heard as a Member of Congress,” he added.
“Not surprising,” wrote Donald Trump Jr.
“Biden’s woke ‘intelligence’ gurus are the same ones who were WRONG on Russian collusion & Russian bounties, WRONG about China & Iran being ‘competitors,’ WRONG on Covid [Chinese coronavirus] origins, WRONG on Hunter’s laptop, & WRONG on basically everything else,” he added.
Quoting former President Barack Obama who once said, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up,” former congressional candidate Bernard Claston asked: “The question is what do we do about this gross incompetence?”
Len Khodorkovsky, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, referred to July 8 — the day of Biden’s press conference — as “a date which will live in infamy.”
On July 8, as fighting raged throughout Afghanistan, President Biden announced a timeline for a drawdown of U.S. forces from the area while assuring the Taliban would not overpower the American-backed Afghan military.
Since the US ramped up its withdrawal the Taliban have launched a blistering campaign to capture new territory, with fears mounting that Afghan forces will collapse without vital American air support.
As insurgents closed in on Sunday, the capital was gripped by panic as Kabul fell to the Taliban and embattled president Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the government collapsed and the capital’s U.S. Embassy was forced to evacuate.
Fearing the Taliban would reassert their pattern of brutal rule, thousands of citizens and foreigners have been fleeing the advancing Taliban, with one official with the militant group saying it would soon announce the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was the original name of the country under Taliban rule before they were ousted by U.S.-led forces after the 9/11 attacks.
In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.