NEW YORK , US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Sunday faced grilling during an interview with an American television network on Sunday over Taliban\u2019s dramatic takeover of Afghanistan, with its anchor pointedly asking Blinken, \u201cHow did President (Joe) Biden get this so wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
Appearing on CNN\u2019s news programme \u201cState of the Union,\u201d Blinken acknowledged that Afghan security forces have been unable to defend the nation and that the Taliban offensive has progressed more quickly than expected.<\/p>\n
The networks\u2019 programme anchor Jake Tapper brought up President Biden\u2019s remarks just a few weeks ago in which the president said it was \u201cnot true\u201d that the Afghan government would likely collapse once the U.S. left the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecretary Blinken, as you know, the Taliban has closed in on Kabul,\u201d Tapper, the anchor, said to the secretary of state. \u201cWe are evacuating the embassy, burning documents, Biden increased troops, deploying to the country twice in three days just to rescue those there.<\/p>\n
This is not just about the overall idea of leaving Afghanistan. This is about leaving hastily and ineptly. How did President Biden get this so wrong?\u201d
\nThe anchor pressed Blinken on whether the U.S. withdrawal was rushed and not well planned, pointing to the quickly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Blinken, for his part, tried to reframe the debate around the overall mission in Afghanistan, which he said was to \u201cdeal with the folks who attacked us on 9\/11.\u201d After pointing out that Osama bin Laden had been assassinated ten years ago, Blinken then brought up the withdrawal agreement former President Donald Trump\u2019s administration reached with the Taliban in 2019, suggesting it was the impetus for the current situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous administration negotiated an agreement with the Taliban that said that our forces, only about 2500, would be out of the country on May 1,\u201d he stated. \u201cThe idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there is simply wrong. The fact is had the president decided to keep forces in Afghanistan beyond May 1 attacks would have resumed on our forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blinken added: \u201cThe Taliban had not been attacking our forces or nation during the period from which the agreement was reached to May 1. The offensive you are seeing across the country to take the provincial capitals would have commenced. We would have been back at war with the Taliban.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tapper, the CNN anchor, however, pointed out that the Biden administration did \u201cblow through\u201d that May 1 deadline, as troops were only recently withdrawn. Saying the issue wasn\u2019t that troops were pulled out but \u201chow they were withdrawn,\u201d he asked Blinken if Biden bears \u201cthe blame for this disastrous exit from Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secretary acknowledged that while the Taliban was at its strongest point since it was pushed out of power in 2001, four different administrations had poured billions of dollars into Afghanistan to build a modern military force of 300,000, complete with an air force.
\n\u201cAnd the fact is we\u2019ve seen that force has been unable to defend the country,\u201d he declared. \u201cThat has happened more quickly than we anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The anchor, meanwhile, continued to grill Blinken on Biden\u2019s recent claims that it was unlikely that the Taliban would quickly take over the entire country, again noting that the president was \u201cwrong.<\/p>\n
\u201d After Blinken pivoted, saying that the \u201cstatus quo was not sustainable\u201d and that the U.S. wasn\u2019t going to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, the CNN anchor called him out for deflecting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep changing the subject to whether we should be there forever,\u201d he retorted. \u201cI\u2019m talking about whether or not this exit was done properly. Taking out all the service members before those Americans and those Afghan translators could get out.<\/p>\n
That is what I\u2019m talking about. Then you have to send people back in. That is the definition of \u2018Oh, we shouldn\u2019t have taken those troops out because now we have to send twice as many back in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Blinken insisted that Biden now sending in 5,000 troops to help evacuate the remaining Americans in Afghanistan shows \u201cthe president was prepared for every contingency\u201d moving forward, prompting Tapper to then ask if Biden has offered anything to the Taliban in exchange for safe passage of Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. We haven\u2019t asked the Taliban for anything,\u201d Blinken replied. \u201cWe\u2019ve told the Taliban that if they interfere with our personnel, with our operations, as we\u2019re proceeding with this drawdown, there will be a swift and decisive response.\u201d<\/p>\n
After taking the Biden administration to task for not preparing ahead of time to evacuate thousands of Afghan translators who are now targets of the Taliban, the State of the Union host then brought up the unfortunate optics this withdrawal mirrors.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Biden is intent on avoiding a Saigon moment, a reference of course to the hasty and humiliating U.S. evacuation from Vietnam. But with this troop surge to airlift Americans out of Afghanistan aren\u2019t we already in the midst of a Saigon moment?\u201d Tapper wondered aloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we\u2019re not. Remember, this is not Saigon,\u201d Blinken responded, as diplomats were literally being airlifted from the embassy at that very moment. \u201cWe went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission. And that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9\/11. We have succeeded in that mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if the U.S. would ever recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government, Blinken said, \u201cA future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn\u2019t harbour terrorists is a government we can work with and recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConversely, a government that doesn\u2019t do that, that doesn\u2019t uphold the basic rights of its people, including women and girls, that harbours terrorist groups that have designs on the United States, our allies and partners, certainly, that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK , US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Sunday faced grilling during an interview with an American television network on Sunday over Taliban\u2019s dramatic takeover of Afghanistan, with its anchor pointedly asking Blinken, \u201cHow did President (Joe) Biden get this so wrong?\u201d Appearing on […]<\/p>\n
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