Kabul Blasts: Voice Cracking, Joe Biden Reflected Blow To His Presidency
Washington, United States: Eyes closing, voice cracking, Joe Biden physically reflected the terrible blow to his presidency from the slaying of 13 US service members during the desperate Kabul evacuation.
Addressing the state from the White House, Biden bowed his head for a flash of silence before taking questions from journalists pressing him on the bloody twist within the already tragic operation to pack up the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
He appeared occasionally on the brink of tears as he spoke of the dead “heroes.” And when he promised the attackers “we will hunt you down,” there was steel in his voice.
No doubt that Biden’s presidency has been shaken to the core by the bombing at
In January, he took office promising calm reception and respect for the us abroad after the turbulent Donald Trump years.
Now Biden’s been left with a mountain to climb if he’s to influence the state and America’s partners that either goal remains achievable.
The 78-year-old Democrat was already reeling from the just about overnight collapse of the US-backed government and US-created army, leaving the few remaining US troops and lots of thousands folks citizens and allies at the Taliban’s mercy.
Working round the clock for 10 days, his administration had thought perhaps it could still pull triumph from disaster.
The airlift was going much better than predicted, with the US military performing flawlessly and therefore the Taliban more or less keeping its end of the discount in securing
shington, the White House proudly unrolled the newest remarkable figures: quite 95,000 people safely flown out since Kabul’s fall to the Taliban.
Then the bombs went off.
Shutting himself away with aides within the Situation Room, Biden canceled a gathering of state governors and told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that their planned meeting within the Oval Office would need to wait until Friday.
Throughout each day of meetings with national staff , Biden was “somber” and “outraged,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
“Any day where you’ll lose service members is probably the worst day of your presidency.”
‘Resign‘?
Biden didn’t start the Afghan war. That was a Republican, George W. Bush.
And Biden was the primary of 4 presidents actually to follow through on promises to finish the disaster.
But as Biden himself said, the “buck stops” with him.
That means he won’t be ready to escape fury and horror back home over the deaths of the servicemen — or the political fallout.
“Joe Biden has blood on his hands,” Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik said. “This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the results of Joe Biden’s weak and incompetent leadership. he’s unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted that Biden and every one his top national staff “should resign or face impeachment and removal from office.”
The Republican outcry was predictable. But the broader damage reflected in opinion polls are going to be more worrying for Biden.
While a USA Today/Suffolk University poll in the week found overwhelmingly that Americans believe the Afghan war wasn’t worth fighting, Biden isn’t getting thanked. The poll found his overall approval at just 41 percent, with 55 percent disapproving.
“I do not know if Biden are going to be permanently damaged,” Mark Rom, a professor of state at Georgetown University, told AFP. “But the Republicans will do everything in their power to ascertain that he’s .”
Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette school of law Poll, said that given the unpopularity of the Afghan war, Biden may yet ride the disaster out.
“The political question, once we’ve completely withdrawn, is whether or not the bulk are going to be glad we aren’t there anymore. If so, then the difficulty is probably going to fade,” he said.