Michael Cardinal, FISM News
President Biden held a press conference today in which he attempted to address the fiasco that is currently taking place in Afghanistan. Biden gave a speech in which he defended his ordered withdrawal and tried to paint a picture of order which does not coincide with the reports coming out of Afghanistan.
He said that the US military had secured the airport and that there are no reports of those with US passports not having safe passage through Taliban checkpoints, failing to account for the chaos and danger that is occurring directly outside the airport walls. While Biden said that he would “mobilize every resource necessary” to rescue American citizens and Afghanis who aided US military efforts, but was unable to give any direct plan of how to accomplish this for those who are not already at the airport. At one point in his speech Biden admitted that he “cannot promise what the final outcome will be,” and that the rescue missions come “with risk of loss.”
Biden refused to take blame, and instead tried to distance himself from the situation. He said multiple times that he was following the “general consensus,” and that almost everyone agreed that the fallen Afghanistan government would have held longer than it did. This is despite reports today of a cable that had warned of the exact situation currently playing out. Biden reiterated his claim that the current situation was inevitable, saying there was “no way in which you’d be able to leave Afghanistan without there being somewhat of what your seeing now.”
Financial Issues host and CEO, Dan Celia, reacted to the president’s speech saying:
President Biden this afternoon did nothing more than reassure the American people that we were continuing with the surrender. He never once drew a line in the sand or gave a direct warning to the Taliban in Afghanistan that if they continue to interfere, that the military will be back bigger, stronger, and more powerful than ever, and they will pay a very dear price. This does little to help those whose lives are currently in danger.”
Watch the full speech here: