TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A new book by author Franklin Foer reveals that the Biden administration was unprepared for the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, despite believing otherwise as late as the beginning of that month.
In an excerpt adapted for The Atlantic from "The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future," Biden is depicted as stubborn and arrogant, unwavering in his commitment to the withdrawal.
The book portrays Biden's belief that he could rise above pressure from the military and foreign policy establishments to successfully withdraw the United States from an unwinnable mission in Afghanistan.
As of August 1, just a month before completing the withdrawal, the Biden administration reportedly still believed in the possibility of an orderly transition of power to a governing coalition between the Taliban and the government of the president, Ashraf Ghani.
There were discussions of Secretary of State Antony Blinken going to Qatar to preside over an accord signing, and the State Department believed the US embassy in Kabul could remain open after the withdrawal.
The administration also assessed that the Afghan military could hold off the Taliban for months, with no anticipation of resorting to emergency scenarios.
By August 15, Taliban fighters entered Kabul, including the presidential palace, with minimal resistance from Afghan soldiers, while Ghani fled Afghanistan without prior notice to the US government.
Despite warnings from Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, that Kabul could be surrounded by the Taliban within a month, the White House, supported by the CIA, did not alter its stance.
As of August 12, the US intelligence community still did not expect the Taliban to attempt taking Kabul until after the planned US withdrawal on August 31, according to the book.
The book describes how the Biden administration, lacking resources and resolve, unintentionally relied on the Taliban to maintain order in Kabul during the US evacuation.
By mid-month, hundreds of thousands of Afghans from rural areas flooded into Kabul, seeking refuge from the Taliban and trying to leave with the withdrawing Americans.
The administration believed it could prevent a repeat of the 1975 US withdrawal from Saigon, but the situation at Kabul airport deteriorated rapidly, with chaotic scenes of Afghans meeting grisly fates while attempting to board airplanes and escape.
The situation worsened when terrorist bombings outside Kabul airport killed 13 US service members and numerous Afghans. Despite the unorganized withdrawal, about 124,000 people were evacuated, the book revealed.
Despite public outcry and casualties, Biden remained steadfast in his belief that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was the right one, except when a relative of a fallen US service member confronted him with strong words.
Franklin Foer, a staff writer for The Atlantic and former editor of The New Republic, authored the book.
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