During his press conference on Thursday following the terrorist attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers, President Biden blamed his generals for the decision to leave Bagram Air Base behind and did not deny reports that his administration gave the Taliban a list of Americans stranded in the region.
They concluded, the military, that Bagram Air Base was not much value-added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul.
The Bagram bug-out was not merely a shameful episode; it was for Biden a tactical retreat.
The Taliban were surging, the Afghan military forces were collapsing, and Biden knew that U.S. commanders wanted to keep a force presence and continue supporting the Afghan government.
By not just slashing the in-country troop presence but surrendering Bagram - and in a consciously chaotic and sneaky way that deprived the Afghan forces an orderly transfer at a time when they were under siege and steadily losing their U.S.-dependent capacity to function - the Biden administration guaranteed that there would be no turning back from the decision to pull out.
A Blackhawk helicopter pilot who served in Afghanistan explains why Bagram was the superior choice over Kabul International Airport: pic.
Following the attack, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez tacitly criticized the Biden administration for trusting the Taliban to help secure Americans.
Friday, August 27, 2021
Biden Blames Generals for Abandoning Bagram Air Base
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