US Politics, Blame Game Over Afghanistan Fall (Comprehensive)

Biden Administration Blames Trump for Afghanistan Crisis
Republicans Say Biden's Misjudgment Caused Disaster

[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] The U.S. political sphere has been engulfed in controversy over who is responsible for the early fall of Afghanistan.

The opposition Republican Party raised accountability issues, blaming President Joe Biden's misjudgment for the disaster, while the Biden administration countered by stating that the Afghan mission was successful.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Steve Scalise, Republican House Majority Whip, appeared on CBS on the 15th (local time) and harshly criticized the Biden administration, saying, "Watching the U.S. embassy evacuate was very horrific." Scalise said, "This is Biden's Saigon moment," adding, "Biden said we wouldn't see an embassy evacuation by helicopter like Saigon, but here we are." He compared the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan to the final helicopter escape operation during the humiliating fall of Vietnam, which is considered a disgrace in U.S. history.

Michael McCaul, the Republican ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared on CNN and said, "They completely failed. They completely underestimated the power of the Taliban," warning that Biden would be held responsible for the U.S. troop withdrawal and the subsequent Taliban takeover of Kabul.

Some Republican lawmakers criticized both President Biden and former President Donald Trump. They argued that Biden was merely implementing Trump's agreement on U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Representative Liz Cheney issued a statement saying, "The 'Trump-Biden disaster' began with the Trump administration negotiating with terrorists and claiming them as partners for peace, and ended with Biden abandoning Afghanistan, marking America's surrender."

Senator Ben Sasse claimed that the fall of Afghanistan was the result of the foreign policies of two administrations that deliberately decided to lose the Afghan war.

Earlier, Trump, during his tenure, agreed with the Taliban in February last year to withdraw U.S. troops by May 1 of this year. Biden inherited this agreement and, three months after taking office, postponed the deadline to complete the withdrawal before September 11 of this year.

Amid fierce Republican attacks, Tony Blinken, Secretary of State and the Biden administration's top diplomat, defended the legitimacy of the withdrawal. On the same day, appearing on U.S. television, he rebutted the comparison of the Afghan evacuation operation to Saigon, saying, "This is not Saigon."

He also praised the successful execution of missions such as bringing the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks?the catalyst for the Afghan war?to justice and preventing terrorist groups from attacking the U.S. from Afghanistan.

President Biden received a briefing on the fall of Afghanistan from his security team at the presidential retreat Camp David that morning, but no related remarks have been disclosed. However, in a statement the previous day, Biden said, "Endless U.S. presence in another country's internal affairs is unacceptable," adding that if the Afghan government forces cannot defend their country, it would make no difference whether U.S. troops stayed for one year or five more years.

The Biden administration particularly blamed the previous administration for the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Secretary Blinken argued that the decision to end the Afghan war was constrained by the withdrawal agreement Trump made with the Taliban. He said that if the withdrawal decision had been canceled, the U.S. would have gone back to war with the Taliban and had to redeploy tens of thousands of troops.

Kevin McCarthy, Republican House Minority Leader, criticized the withdrawal as "a bewildering event," saying the Biden administration had no clear plan when announcing the withdrawal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.