Ten days away from the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, President Joe Biden faces new questions about how he will fight terrorism after a speedy exit from Afghanistan — just in time for what critics have deemed a “photo op.”
In remarks on Tuesday, Biden said counterterrorism missions to protect the homeland will continue, as well as hunting down Islamic State terrorists and promoting human rights.
But “major military operations to remake other countries” are out, Biden said. He insisted that leaving Afghanistan by the end of August was “not due to an arbitrary deadline” but was “designed to save American lives.” The 20-year war was initiated in response to the 9/11 attacks.
WITHDRAWAL MEANS WASHINGTON MUST FIND NEW WAYS TO MONITOR TERROR THREAT FROM AFGHANISTAN: EXPERTS
Still, the administration’s counterterrorism capabilities are under scrutiny amid reports a retaliatory drone strike targeting Islamic State militants killed 10 civilians, including seven children and some people attempting to evacuate to the U.S.
Officials said about 100 to 200 Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan remain there.
Florida Rep. Brian Mast, a decorated Army veteran of the Afghanistan War, said Biden’s rush to meet a symbolic date calls into question the president’s ability to combat future threats.
“President Biden’s goal has always been a celebration on the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11. It was always about optics, never about meeting the strategic objectives of ensuring the well-being of our troops and allies or of a safer America,” Mast, a Republican and bomb disposal expert who lost both legs to a roadside bomb, told the Washington Examiner. “As long as the photo op remains his top priority, our nation is going to face serious and persistent terrorist threats without a commander in chief who is able to counter them.”
Biden’s shift to “vigilance via airstrike” is rooted in dated security notions, according to counterterrorism expert Jason Killmeyer. Relying on long-range missions is “1990s thinking, and it’s not sustainable in the long term,” he said.
Killmeyer questioned how Biden could provide assurances that Americans “can trust the new riskier calculus of over-the-horizon” strikes, given the failure last week to prevent a terrorist attack at the Kabul international airport.
Despite concerns from commanders in Kabul last week who warned of an imminent threat and pushed to close the airport’s Abbey Gate, the move to do so was delayed to aid British allies, according to a Politico report. At 6 p.m., hours before the planned closure, an ISIS-K suicide attack killed 13 service members and scores of Afghans.
The withdrawal has come under attack from all sides, with Democrats and Biden’s political opponents seizing on the chaotic exit.
“Biden abandoned Americans in Afghanistan,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement, calling on the president to resign.
“For months, Biden and his administration promised the withdrawal from Afghanistan wouldn’t be chaotic. They were wrong,” McDaniel said, charging that the president is “incapable” of leading as commander in chief. “The U.S. and the world are less safe because of him. Joe Biden must resign.”
Killmeyer said Biden’s “attempts to suggest he carried out the grim duty of finally ending the war” while presenting himself “as the burdened executive” do not meet the shock of the evacuation “and associated bloodletting” of the past several weeks.
On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the transition of a military mission to a diplomatic mission, another symbolic advent that has drawn criticism.
“This anniversary was an important element in framing [the withdrawal] towards Biden’s diplomacy-first worldview,” Killmeyer said. “Events have not been kind to his interpretation.”
The symbolic connection was made by a senior administration official earlier this year as Biden cemented his announcement.
Biden “has reached the conclusion that the United States will complete its drawdown and will remove its forces from Afghanistan before Sept. 11,” this official told reporters in early April.
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The new Taliban leaders in Afghanistan applauded the completion of the mission.
As the final U.S. flight left Kabul airport one minute before midnight local time on Aug. 30, the departure was met by celebratory gunfire.
