The US media blasted Joe Biden today for his ‘blame shifting’ over the Afghanistan crisis after the President criticised Afghan leaders and military for refusing to fight while defending his decision to withdraw troops.
The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that Mr. Biden ‘refused to accept responsibility for the botched withdrawal while blaming others and the ‘one group he conspicuously did not blame was the Taliban’.
A Washington Post editorial said he could have listened to the ‘many seasoned hands’ giving him alternatives to withdrawal, adding that him blaming others was ‘unseemly’ given how 2,448 US service members died in 20 years.
An editorial in the New York Post pointed out that no US soldiers have died in Afghanistan in 18 months, and ‘he alone is responsible for the Taliban takeover which is an ‘utter catastrophe, for Afghans and for world security.
Meanwhile, an opinion piece in the Left-leaning CNN by a retired soldier said Afghanistan’s collapse was ‘wilful abandonment’ and that the withdrawal of US forces ‘left the tribes of Afghanistan little choice but capitulation’.
However, other US media defended Mr. Biden today, including the New York Times which said the ‘calamity cannot be laid alone at President Biden’s feet’ and that his decision to pull out all US troops took ‘courage and wisdom’.
And an opinion piece in USA Today said the President ‘bears some of the blame for the catastrophic collapse’ but ‘there is plenty to go around, adding that Mr. Biden was ‘dealt his losing hand by Bush, Obama, and Trump’.
