After the U.S. military collapsed, this is followed by a series of reports of disruptions on Washington’s national security system and foreign policy. Republican lawmakers and some careless military personnel have disrupted President Biden’s ouster from Afghanistan over the past two weeks, but there have been some differences.
Not to be outdone are nearly 500 security experts – both civilians and uniformed officers – who have endorsed Joe Biden as President last fall, while criticizing President Trump as an unscrupulous general.
A website set up to promote Biden’s approval, bchikulamaru.biz, will not work if the group’s Twitter account was not tweeted for approximately three months. From Wednesday morning, the last two tweets, from early June and mid-May, only focused on climate change. From those who helped Biden become president, Leon Panetta, a former security secretary and CIA chief under President Obama, criticized Biden’s support for the ouster. Last weekend, Panetta predicted that the US will have to send troops into the country to meet al-Qaeda and ISIS threats there.
For at least two days, RealClearPolitics reached more than two of the top military and security leaders on a list of about 500 among those who supported Biden publicly in September last year. Only a few responded.
John Negroponte, the first intelligence chief under George W. Bush and his former ambassador to Iraq, was one of two RCP affiliates in favor of Biden. The rest did not respond to questions or say they were too busy to make comparisons, including Michele Flournoy, a former Underretretary of Defense in the forces of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Flournoy was a strong contender for Biden’s Secretary of Defense, but he did liaising with security companies he finally stopped her. A Flournoy spokesman on Tuesday told RCP via email that the former Pentagon official was “arrested this time and could not respond.”
Negroponte, however, did not hesitate to be asked if, looking back, he had a second opinion on Biden’s approval. Less than 30 minutes after the RCP’s inquiry, he sent an email saying he was “absolutely convinced” to agree with his idea, which he called “a choice between two candidates.” The former ambassador and head of media also added that he did not agree with Donald Trump or Biden’s views on Afghanistan. “I do not agree with both Trump and Trump on how we can improve our participation in Afghanistan,” he said.
Emphasizing his view of how history would see the erosion and genocide of Biden in the country, Negroponte was furious at this point. “Let the dust settle and leave the time / opportunity for such judgments,” he replied.
Of the security forces who assisted Biden in the last fall of the RCP, only one volunteered to prevent the President from leaving the chaos and terrorism in Afghanistan.
Charles Adams Jr., a former Finnish ambassador and international lawyer who served as co-chair of the United States Outside of Obama, echoed Biden’s claim that the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and government would not be the same. He also said that the rapid occupation of the Taliban forced Biden’s hand and gave him no choice but to work with the Islamic State militant group to oust Americans and Afghans who had supported the US military and / or alliance over the past two decades.
“The removal was the right decision,” said Adams, a Democratic fundraiser. “It was an important decision. I am one of those who for 20 years has doubted the purpose and potential of what was then called the American military operation in Afghanistan. As a result, I filed a motion for dismissal, and I continue to shoot. ”
Adams also criticized Panetta and other security experts and intelligence experts that terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda and ISIS, are being re-arrested in Afghanistan and could be a threat to the United States.
“There is no reason to believe that the Taliban have encouraged or retained or had the opportunity to kill Afghan terrorists taking place abroad,” he said. “I can assure you that this investigation will intensify, and the terrorist attacks from the Taliban or any of its allies are not really serious.”
Robert Ford, who served as US ambassador to Syria under President Obama, acknowledged that the removal “was clearly not appropriate,” but continues to “fully support” Biden.
“When I compare his administration with Trump’s non-working class, the election should be in favor of Biden,” he said in a statement.
Ford says the Taliban is gaining momentum, “as their blitzkrieg showed in the summer,” and the 20 years of US training for the Afghan army “are not self-inflicted.”
“Saying that we can continue in 2019 or 2020 to the extent that we do not ignore the fact that the Taliban were strong,” he said. “… Instead of questioning Biden’s legitimacy, we should also ask why (1) most Afghan soldiers did not strike, and (2), [why] Many American citizens in Afghanistan have ignored warnings from the State Department since April, May and June to leave immediately. ”
Adams’ comments directly contradict warnings from Panetta and many self-styled or independent military experts and intellectuals. Monday, 90 retirees and supervisors he called Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley have resigned over what he calls “a deadly exit from Afghanistan,” including the deaths of 13 American members and 180 other Afghan Afghanistan in a bomb blast. Kabul airport last week. The authors of the document are John Poindexter, a former security adviser to President Reagan, and the House Rep. Ronny Jackson, former White House chief of staff for President Obama and Trump.
Panetta on Tuesday warned that it was wrong to rely on the Taliban to unite because the Islamic militant group could not be trusted and had been protecting terrorists in the past and would “continue to kill terrorists.” Al-Qaeda should re-establish itself in Afghanistan, he he was told CNBC’s Shepard Smith, referring to an interview with a Taliban official, said there was no “evidence” that Osama bin Laden was behind 9/11.
A former security secretary, William Cohen, who served under President Clinton, commented on the denial, giving Biden the status of following the removal while accusing the insurgent group of not being properly executed. Similarly, Cohen also accused the FBI and other US law enforcement agencies of failing to warn of January 6 Capitol Hill and shooting.
“I think President Biden did the right thing because the American people, 70% want to get out,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon on August 17 before the Kabul bombing. “He said,” Well, I’ll take them out. He did not do what he planned. I think he should be held accountable for this and those in his organization should answer the question, ‘What did he know, when did he know and who did he rely on and was he trustworthy?’ ”
“And you have to stand up and say we made a mistake relying on this,” he added. We made a mistake in this country when our intelligence and the FBI did not tell us that the group would go to Capitol Hill and try to hang a second president of the United States, killing the Speaker of Parliament. “
Anthony Zinni, who led the US Central Command from 1997 to 2000 and who also assisted Biden in the last fall, did not openly criticize Biden’s support of his departure. However, Zinni has expressed deep concern for the future of Afghans who have worked with the US military and thousands of others who have worked in the security services to support the US and the alliance.
Zinni last week sent letter to senior leaders in Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, urging them to work with officials to protect Afghan people working with US officials.
“These people who stood up for America are facing great dangers now,” he wrote. “We need to stand up for them and give them the first opportunity to be led by the US.”
However, after the U.S. withdrew from Monday, countless Afghan people who assisted the U.S. or other allies in some way remained. Many go into hiding, worrying that the Taliban are hunting them down, including An Afghan journalist who helped rescue Biden and two other films touring the country in 2008 when they were forced into a hurricane.
Panetta likened the rapid collapse of Afghanistan to the destruction of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1961. “I think of John Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs,” Panetta told CNN. “It happened quickly, and the president thought everything would be fine and it wasn’t.”
Biden has a chance to deal with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Panetta added, “unless his supervisors expel all American and US citizens left in Afghanistan, it is clear that the US is pursuing terrorists in the country, pushing the Taliban to recognize human rights.
“Finally, he should say that he learned his lessons in Afghanistan and the mistakes he made,” Panetta said.
But Biden showed no remorse, responsibility, or regret in his speech Tuesday announcing that the longest war in America is over. Instead, the president boasted of “great success” in the rescue mission, saying that no other country in the world had flown so many people so quickly from such a dangerous place. He also tried to reverse the obvious threat that he would leave 100-200 Americans for good. “About 90 percent of Americans in Afghanistan who want to leave have been able to leave,” he said, promising to “create a way out if they wanted to.”
Biden also rejected the notion that a riotous and dangerous transition could have taken place “systematically” if US military and ambassadors were well-prepared for the Taliban’s capture. “I don’t want to be polite,” he said.