Following President Joe Biden’s script-oriented address to Americans regarding happenings in Afghanistan, Rep. Greg Murphy M.D. (R-NC) took aim at Biden’s “poorly planned withdrawal” of troops from Afghanistan, claiming he “missed the mark and failed to confront the challenge of this moment” and “deflected blame to everyone else but himself.”
“I was hoping to hear the President accept responsibility for his chaotic and poorly planned withdrawal in Afghanistan,” Murphy said in a statement. “Instead he failed to articulate a clear and decisive course of action to protect Americans and our allies.” He went on:
President Biden offered a series of inflammatory excuses that deflected blame to everyone else but himself. While Biden told Americans that the ‘buck stops’ with him, our commander-in-chief deflected all responsibility and pointed fingers at former President Trump and our Afghani allies.
Murphy also echoed sentiments from Ryan Crocker, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan under former President Barack Obama, questioning Biden’s “ability to lead our nation as commander-in-chief,” further claiming he “missed the mark and failed to confront the challenge.” Murphy said:
There is no doubt that Biden missed the mark and failed to confront the challenge of this moment. He failed to listen to his military advisers. He refused to answer key questions, and America is worse off because of his cowardice. Why wasn’t the American military ready? Why weren’t our allies evacuated months ago? Why weren’t we better prepared? The American people deserve answers.
Departure from Afghanistan is supported by most Americans. That is not the problem. To be clear — Biden is being criticized for his epic failure to execute a safe withdrawal from Afghanistan. In refusing to recognize his culpability in this crisis, President Biden has done a great disservice to our nation and to our allies as we look to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan.
Biden’s speech, which was praised by many of those on his side of the aisle, also received immense criticism from former President Donald Trump, whom Biden blamed for much of the problems with troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. “It’s not that we left Afghanistan,” Trump said in a statement. “It’s the grossly incompetent way we left!”
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