As images of the Taliban capturing the Afghan capital of Kabul and helicopters shuttling diplomats frantically out of the U.S. Embassy while workers burned and destroyed equipment, former President Donald J. Trump called for the resignation of President Joe Biden.
“It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan, along with the tremendous surge in COVID, the Border catastrophe, the destruction of energy independence, and our crippled economy,” Trump said in a statement.
Later, videos of Afghans loyal to the U.S. were seen falling to their deaths after clinging on to a departing U.S. Air Force evacuation flight.
While all this was going on, both President Joe Biden and his press secretary Jen Psaki were on vacation. Emails sent to Psaki were met with an out-of-office reply on Sunday. Psaki’s autoreply message said she will be out of the office from August 15th to August 22nd.
“Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy and many other issues. Everyone knew he couldn’t handle the pressure,” Trump said. “Even Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said as much. He ran out of Afghanistan instead of following the plan our Administration left for him—a plan that protected our people and our property, and ensured the Taliban would never dream of taking our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks against America. The withdrawal would be guided by facts on the ground.”
Trump said that the power shift in Afghanistan will allow ISIS to regain a foothold in the country.
“After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America’s power,” Trump said. “What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America’s Embassy in Kabul. This is a complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence.”