A defiant President Joe Biden called the Afghanistan evacuation effort a “success” on Tuesday, in a speech that marked the end of the United States’ 20-year engagement in the country.

“As we close 20 years of war and strife and pain and sacrifice, it’s time to look at the future, not the past,” Biden said. “I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America.”

His speech came almost exactly 24 hours after Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, announced that the last military flights out of Afghanistan had departed Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday there were between 100 and 200 American citizens who “wanted to leave” Afghanistan but remained in the country. Biden confirmed that estimate on Tuesday and said the U.S. and others would continue to work to evacuate people out of Afghanistan.

“For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline,” the president said. “We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.”

Biden’s tone was remarkably similar to the one he displayed in his speech following the fall of Kabul a little more than two weeks ago. Both were marked with sharp criticisms for the deposed Afghan political leadership and Biden’s unwavering commitment to bring the war to a close.

“I was not going to extend this forever war,” Biden said on Tuesday, “and I was not extending a forever exit.”

Biden’s speech capped a tumultuous month in which the Afghan government and security forces collapsed with breathtaking speed, forcing the U.S. to cooperate with the Taliban in order to ensure that evacuations could continue as countless lives hung in the balance.

Administration officials have stressed that the operation was “the largest noncombatant” evacuation in U.S. military history. More than 123,000 people were evacuated, including 79,000 since Aug. 14.

But the withdrawal was marred by a terrorist attack last week that killed more than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, as well as by the government’s acknowledgement that tens of billions of dollars in military equipment had fallen into the Taliban’s hands.

On Tuesday, military officials tamped down reports that the U.S. had abandoned military dogs in Kabul, underscoring the government’s ongoing battle to counter perceptions that final stages of the drawdown were hasty and chaotic.

“To correct erroneous reports, the U.S. Military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs,” John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesman wrote on Twitter. “Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under our care.”

Throughout the process, the Biden administration remained adamant about meeting its self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline, even as doing so infuriated Republicans — some of whom have called for Biden’s removal from office — raised tensions between the White House and Democrats in Congress, and rankled some of the closest U.S. allies.

The president and his advisers have repeatedly said that they were determined to bring the war in Afghanistan to a close and did not want to extend the timeline for withdrawal — potentially upsetting the delicate balance with the Taliban and putting additional people in harm’s way.

“Leaving August the 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives,” Biden said.

The White House is eager to put the Afghanistan saga behind it and refocus on pressing domestic concerns, even as the ramifications appear likely to stretch on for months, if not years.

There are tens of thousands of Afghans and their families who will need to be resettled in the U.S. and other countries — a formidable logistical challenge — and a raft of congressional committees are embarking upon investigations of the exit from Afghanistan.

The international community will also have to figure out its approach with regard to the Taliban now that they have seized control of Afghanistan. The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the Taliban to honor its humanitarian commitments, although China and Russia notably refused to sign on and argued that it was an attempt to distract from the United States’ handling of the withdrawal.

Blinken said on Monday that the U.S. was relocating its diplomatic presence for Afghanistan to Doha, Qatar, after shuttering its embassy in Kabul earlier this month as the situation deteriorated.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/defiant-biden-calls-afghanistan-exit-151521841.html

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As Labor Day marks the traditional close to summer, President Biden’s poll numbers are taking a hit.

Facing a barrage of bipartisan criticism for weeks over his handling of the turbulent U.S. withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan, and with a surge in new COVID cases due to the spread across the country this summer of the highly infectious delta variant, the president’s approval ratings are slipping.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/biden-apos-standing-among-americans-105217356.html

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The post JUST IN: McCarthy Rebukes Biden’s ‘Unconditional Surrender’ In Afghanistan In Fiery Floor Remarks first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Biden’s national security and foreign policy moves are “failing” early in his administration, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told “Life, Liberty & Levin” in an interview airing Sunday night.

“Here’s my concern,” Ratcliffe told host Mark Levin. “Joe Biden is a guy who — his very close friend Robert Gates, who served as the secretary of defense with him in the Obama administration, said Joe Biden was wrong on every national security and foreign policy decision in the last forty years.

“It’s one thing to be wrong when you’re a United States senator or the vice president, but he’s the president of the United States,” Ratcliffe added, “and he’s very early on reflecting that he’s still making those wrong decisions when it comes to our national security and foreign policy, and foreign leaders see that and they’re taking advantage of it.”

Earlier, Ratcliffe told Levin that Russia’s recent military buildup near the border with Ukraine is an example of a foreign leader “testing” Biden.

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“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is an ex-KGB thug, but he’s engaging in the same kind of activity that he did in the Obama-Biden administration when he stole Crimea and crossed over Obama’s red line,” Ratcliffe said. “And now, four years later, he’s testing whether or not the president, the new president of the United States that he sees on TV and has made some conclusions about whether or not he thinks he’s a strong leader or not. But he’s going to test — he’s testing him right now, and all of these world leaders are.”

After nearly three months in office, Ratcliffe alleged, the Biden White House is projecting “chaos through weakness.”

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“Look at our own southern border, the border security issues, the immigration crisis, what now looks like [is] going to be a crisis in the Middle East or Ukraine or in the straits outside of China … I fear that that is what our foreign policy is going to look like,” he said. “And what we do is pay attention and see that this is exactly what we don’t want and … what happens when you don’t put America first.

“And, you know, our first opportunity to change that politically will be in two years, and that’s why it’s important to keep talking about these issues and drawing a contrast between the Trump administration policies and the Biden administration policies that, very early, are failing.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-wrong-decisions-putin-russia-china-iran-john-ratcliffe

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US President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington on February 4, 2021. Photo: AFP / Saul Loeb

US President Joseph R Biden rose to power promising to restore America’s purportedly ailing alliances. Allies are needed to assist the United States in curbing the rise of China, Russian aggression, and Iranian revanchism. Yet in the last several weeks, the Biden administration has gone out of its way to alienate potential allies across the world.

Slapping India while asking for its hand
China is expanding its reach into every part of Eurasia, doing its best to muscle out the United States.

American leaders from both political parties have fantasized about creating an “Asian NATO” known as the Quadrilateral Alliance (or simply “the Quad”). Japan, Australia, India, and the United States are to be the basis of the alliance, which is predicated on containing China’s rise and forcing Beijing to adhere to the “rules-based international order.”

India previously resisted American calls to form the Quad, but after China launched an unprovoked incursion on its border last year, India began looking more favorably upon the alliance.

One reason India initially resisted the Quad was New Delhi’s fierce commitment to national independence. Indian leaders have never wanted to become too dependent on any foreign nation for national security. This is an understandable outgrowth of India’s centuries-long experience as a colony of the British Empire.

So while India has striven to move closer to America’s powerful orbit in the Indo-Pacific region, its leaders have also maintained friendly relations with another American rival in Eurasia, Russia. India wants to purchase Russian-built S-400 air defense systems. Washington fears that doing so would prevent the kind of technology sharing that has enabled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to maintain its edge.

A row between the leaders of India and the United States occurred in March, when the Biden administration reportedly threatened to impose sanctions on India if it went ahead with the purchase of the Russian air defense system. Fortunately, Washington walked back its threat. But the damage was likely already done.

Meanwhile, India seeks to compete with China for power in the aptly named Indian Ocean. China seeks to expand its reach to its west – linking up Chinese power in the Pacific with Chinese interests in Africa. India rightly has a problem with this and is countering Chinese territorial claims with its own.

To any rational thinker in the United States, these bold Indian moves should be encouraged. What’s good for China’s goose should be, after all, good for the gander in the Indo-Pacific region. Yet the Biden administration ordered an aggressive freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) to be conducted not against its Chinese rivals in the region but against its would-be ally, India.

New Delhi will be constantly looking over its geopolitical shoulder, wondering if the Americans are reliable as partners in the long run (we’re not, sadly).

With friends like these, right?

Without India in America’s corner in the Indo-Pacific region, the already daunting task of containing China’s rise will be made nearly impossible. Hectoring and embarrassing potential allies is counterproductive.

Poking allies, though, has become a hallmark of the Biden administration. Former president Donald Trump’s insults were mostly superficial. Biden’s appear to be pointed – and lasting.

Biden throws Israel under the bus
A recorded conversation between Biden administration representative (and former secretary of state under Barack Obama) John Kerry shared classified intelligence about Israeli military operations in Syria that were being directed against Iranian assets there with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

This is all part of the ill-conceived Biden administration reset with Iran … which, as it turns out, involves Washington throwing its long-term allies in the Middle East, notably democratic Israel but also the Sunni Arab states, under the bus. The US-Israel intelligence-sharing alliance is a key advantage in America’s overall Global War on Terror. Kerry’s actions may have just undercut that relationship.

Trampling Turkey
The Biden administration has completely botched America’s already dying relationship with Turkey by declaring that the Turks did, in fact, commit the Armenian genocide during the First World War. By publicly recognizing what clearly was one of the gravest human-rights abuses of the 20th century, President Biden has put Turkey’s Islamist leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the defensive.

Turkey is a NATO ally. Losing Turkey, which is a real possibility after years of neglect and mismanagement by successive American administrations, would increase instability in the Middle East and Europe.

Further, alienating Turkey would empower Russia, China, and Iran – all three of which Turkey has been cozying up to over the last decade. While the Armenian genocide was grotesque, acknowledging it in such a public manner at this time was foolish on Biden’s part.

As a Sunni Muslim state, Turkey could prove essential in helping to contain Shiite Iran in the Middle East. Turkey could also be used to balance against Russia’s rise. These prospects are now unlikely. What’s more likely is that Turkey will chart a separate course from NATO and the United States. In so doing, Ankara will help China, Russia, and Iran solidify a Eurasian alliance of anti-American autocrats while weakening the Western alliance.

Biden’s shambolic actions have helped to empower the very same anti-American autocrats in Eurasia it seeks to contain. Today, America is defending its position atop the international system. Thus, as defender, Washington has to play the game right almost all of the time. America’s foes, however, only have to get things right one time.

Biden’s unforced errors are killing America in the grand geopolitical game of the 21st century. Let’s hope Biden can recover from his mistakes fast.

Brandon J Weichert is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower. He is a geopolitical analyst who manages The Weichert Report: World News Done Right. His work appears regularly in The Washington Times and Real Clear Politics. Weichert is a former US congressional staffer who holds an MA in statecraft and national security affairs from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, and is an associate member of New College, Oxford University.

Source: https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/biden-losing-friends-and-gaining-enemies/

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