An anonymous official in President Joe Biden’s administration expressed embarrassment that the United States left behind Americans in Afghanistan as the 20-year-old war concluded.
“I am absolutely appalled and literally horrified we left Americans there,” the official told Politico.
There is continuing dissent from within Biden’s administration after he withdrew troops from Kabul on August 31 and declared a successful evacuation mission.
But the official argued that Biden and his administration had failed.
“It was a hostage rescue of thousands of Americans in the guise of a [noncombatant evacuation operation], and we have failed that no-fail mission,” the official said.
The Biden administration continues to defy critics of his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan before all Americans were safely evacuated.
The White House is shifting the blame onto former president Donald Trump, the intelligence community, and even the leaders at the Pentagon for failing to predict the sudden fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say to a reporter whether President Biden admitted mistakes in the evacuation process during the press briefing on Tuesday.
“You can spend a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror,” Psaki said. “What our focus now on is — is on now is moving forward our diplomatic effort.”