Get ready. The rehab effort of Joe Biden’s disastrously incompetent handling of America’s exit from Afghanistan is beginning. While some on CNN (like Jake Tapper) have acted like real journalists and grilled the administration, others are already trying to turn the debacle around. Just minutes after Biden addressed the nation (taking no questions), CNN’s Fareed Zakaria deemed the President’s speech on Monday as “brave.”
The network host turned failure into a virtue: “President Biden made some important points that to an American audience will ring true. The point that ultimately we failed in trying to nation build in Afghanistan, but more importantly and simply, defeating the Taliban.”
Zakaria then spun Biden’s decisions — which left our embassy in Kabul in peril and potentially thousands of Americans abandoned — as “brave.”
But as I've said, Jake, at the end of the day, the problem is we lost this war several years ago. We have not been able to defeat the Taliban. Biden did pull the band-aid off. And I think he took a very tough decision, a brave decision, and maybe at the end of the day there is no elegant way to lose a war.
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A partial transcript of the segment is below:
The Lead With Jake Tapper
8/16/2021
4:24FAREED ZAKARIA: Jake, I think you put it well. Look, President Biden made some important points that to an American audience will ring true. The point that ultimately we failed in trying to nation build in Afghanistan, but more importantly and simply, defeating the Taliban. Let's remember, the Taliban controlled five percent of the country in 2001, roughly, once we ousted them. They were up to 50 percent by the time Donald Trump was in office when there were 15,000 American troops in the country. So the Taliban had been gaining ground.
There was — it's a fantasy that we could have kept 2,500 troops there. Biden was right about that. He was right about the fact that, in general, the United States' mission had not found a way to defeat the enemy, to build Afghanistan. All that I think for Americans will ring true. The part, as you say, that's more complicated, is the withdrawal, the tactical issue of how they did it. Could they not have quietly set a plan in place and recognize this would happen very quickly and therefore they needed more troops there early?
Part of the problem here, Jake, is that the Pentagon, I believe, told them speed is safety. When you get out, get out fast. Well, that is not compatible with securing an airport, making sure that everyone can get to it. Or in orderly processing of people, particularly Afghans. And there frankly it was a hard choice to make, which was “No, we're going to keep forces there, we're going to build up, we're going to hold so that we can do this in an orderly fashion.” Remember, the Taliban has not attacked American troops. So it is possible there was a better way to get out. But as I've said, Jake, at the end of the day, the problem is we lost this war several years ago. We have not been able to defeat the Taliban. Biden did pull the band-aid off. And I think he took a very tough decision, a brave decision, and maybe at the end of the day there is no elegant way to lose a war.
