Biden denies Army report claiming administration ignored military strategists on the ground during botched Afghanistan withdrawal

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1 min read
February 11, 2022

In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, President Joe Biden appeared to be like a middle school child called to the principal’s office about who wrote Miss Henderson’s phone number on the wall of the bathroom stall with the words “For a good time, call”.

Fox News reported, “A 2,000-page Army investigation found that senior military officials were frustrated by the inability of the White House and State Department to recognize the imminent security threat that led to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

Biden says he rejects those findings.

According to the Washington Post, military officials quoted in the document accused White House and State Department officials of not recognizing the swift advance of the Taliban as U.S. forces withdrew from the country. It reportedly points to disagreements over how to handle the evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghans.  

“On the subject of American citizens, I have to draw your attention to that Army report, an investigative report that’s come out about the lead-up to the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Holt said to Biden. “It interviewed many military officials and officers who said the administration ignored the handwriting on the wall, another described trying to get folks in the embassy ready to evacuate and countering you know people who are essentially in the denial of this situation. Does any of that ring true to you?

“No, no. That’s not what I was told,” Biden replied. “I was told. No one told me that. Look there was no good time to get out, but if we had not gotten out. they acknowledged that we would have had to put a hell of a lot more troops back in. It wasn’t just two thousand, four thousand, we would have to significantly increase the number of troops.”

Biden then seemingly forgot which conflict he was talking about.

“There was no way we were ever going to unite Ukraine,” Biden said. “I mean it’s going to be Iraq. Afghanistan. No way that was going to happen and so this is a much wiser thing to do.”

When asked if he is rejecting the U.S. Army report, Biden said, “Yes I am. I’m rejecting them.”

Phil Stilton

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