As Twitchy reported, President Biden flew from Camp David to the White House to deliver a 20-minute speech on Afghanistan, take no questions from reporters, and then jump on a plane back to Camp David to finish out his vacation. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is also out of the office this week, so she won’t be circling back to anyone’s questions on the situation in Afghanistan until next Monday at the earliest. She did, however, find time to tweet about Biden’s speech, which is ironic, because her tweet could have saved Biden the round trip.
@potus made clear that he will not ask Americans to fight and and die in a war that the Afghan military is not willing to fight for itself
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) August 16, 2021
How about all of the things that he didn’t make clear?
Disgraceful. Stop.
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) August 16, 2021
That is not the question.
— Patti (@MarthaDeLeon9) August 16, 2021
— D W Wenzel (@TX_zel) August 16, 2021
Might want to circle back to a more relevant answer …
— Tom Martino (@tom_martino1) August 16, 2021
I guess that is why he is ordering them to go back, huh?
— Don Helpingstine (@dhelpingstine) August 16, 2021
We want to know about the botched withdrawal, not the original decision to depart.
— S D Winkler (@sdwinkler) August 16, 2021
we understand that talking point. but how did the withdrawal get botched so badly?
— Ben Turchin (@TurksTake) August 16, 2021
The withdrawal process is the issue here, not the decision to leave. Newsflash.
— John (@John08588727) August 16, 2021
It's not the leaving that's the problem. It's the abandonment. There had to be much. Much. Better ways to do this.
— Missy Meier (@missymomof3ky) August 16, 2021
We want an explanation for the ill-planned and botched withdrawal.
Why did we leave the embassy unprotected?
Why did we leave expensive military equipment for the Taliban to appropriate?
Why was there no plan B?
How much money did we have to pay the Taliban to let us get out??— McBitcoin (@DemandHacker) August 16, 2021
2 things: Why the hasty retreat, and why did the Taliban gain ground so quickly? And no, it is not about the inaction of Afghan forces, this is highly suspicious, how could they push in with such force? Who helped them. And why was there no intel? Internationally!
— Benjamin Pohl (5G / Nanobots by Johnson & Johnson) (@BenjaminPohl) August 16, 2021
We learned Thursday that American negotiators were trying to extract assurances from the Taliban that they would not attack the U.S. Embassy while the embassy rushed to evacuate on 36 hours’ notice.
A shameful oversimplification of the situation to excuse yourselves for this mess in Kabul.
— John Mason 🐝 (@john_mason_) August 16, 2021
He also took no responsibility for the absolute debacle of this weekend and for ignoring for MONTHS the pleas to evacuate Afghan interpreters and other allies.
— Deena Heg (@bikesalsa) August 16, 2021
No, but he’s willing to let thousands of Afghanis who helped us over the last 20 years meet their deaths at the hands of the Taliban. He’s willing to let billions of dollars worth of US military hardware fall into the Taliban’s hands because of the failures of his administration.
— Lady L. North (@LadyLNorth) August 16, 2021
This is insulting to all the Afghan soldiers who have died, and those Afghan translators who helped and saved our soldiers at grave risk to themselves and their families.
— Samantha Day (@samday_mocatx) August 16, 2021
That’s not what the majority of us are upset about. Getting out is good. We’re upset that 1000’s of our Afghan allies, many who have worked for our military for decades, are being abandoned to the brutality of Taliban rule due to a botched evacuation. We have a moral obligation.
— itsbeautifulhere (@allthebestfore1) August 16, 2021
I agree, the Afghan soldiers were half-hearted participants from the beginning. The plan was for the US team to get translators out by September. Clearly that’s been scuttled. Like COVID, the Taliban won’t stop at town limits and patiently wait. Where was the urgency???
— ReggieLampert (@ReggieLampert) August 16, 2021
We cannot abandon the people that helped us. Get them out of there.
— Bella 🐾 (@Bella50476344) August 16, 2021
Literally no one is arguing this point. What we are astonished to see is how terribly @POTUS misjudged the speed at which the Taliban would fill the vacuum left by the US and the utter disregard for the life and safety of the Afghans that helped the United States.
— John Simpson (@jsimpsonDC) August 16, 2021
That's fine. But the handling of the withdrawal has been incompetently handled and a national embarrassment.
— Shawn Hannan (@hannan_shawn) August 16, 2021
The general briefing at the pentagon just responded “I don’t have an answer to that” when asked if there was a plan in place to prevent US military equipment and weapons from falling into the hands of the Taliban. Unreal.
— bri@att (@BlissRenee) August 16, 2021
Back in the office?
— NIC BRADEN (@npbraden) August 16, 2021
How's your vacation?
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) August 16, 2021
https://twitter.com/thejtlewis/status/1427380257615761413
Nice try. Go back to your pina colada now.
— Katie Scarlet (@Katiescarlet2) August 16, 2021
I would stay on my vacation.
— SouthernRNC (@SouthernRNC) August 16, 2021
We feel terrible that Biden’s vacation was so rudely interrupted so he could read off of a teleprompter for 20 minutes.
* * *
Update:
Pour a piña colada out for Jen Psaki’s abbreviated vacation. https://t.co/OzpZ3rRfwT
— John 'pro-norms' Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) August 17, 2021
Related:
'Beyond parody': Jen Psaki will reportedly be on vacation next week https://t.co/hrZOZDGBpA
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 16, 2021
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