Biden Acknowledges Afghanistan Collapse ‘Did Unfold More Quickly than We Anticipated’
District of Columbia | August 17, 2021
President Biden acknowledged Monday the collapse of Afghanistan occurred “more quickly” than his administration anticipated.
“Truth is, this unfolded more quickly than we anticipated,” Biden said in a national TV address to Americans from the White House.
Over the weekend, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan as the Afghan president fled the country and the U.S. military is scrambling to quickly evacuate Americans.
Biden said that his national security team is closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and is moving quickly to execute plans already put in place, including contingency plans regarding the current “rapid collapse.”
Providing an explanation for the rapid collapse, Biden said that there was a failure of Afghan leaders to unite. The Afghan president insisted his forces would fight, but he was clearly wrong as the leaders gave up and fled, Biden added.
If Afghan forces can’t resist the Taliban now, then “there’s no chance” they would down the road or that U.S. forces remaining in Afghanistan would help, Biden argued…. (Excerpts from Just the News and Virginia Star)