President Biden’s unabashed defense of his decisions in Afghanistan on Monday brought some Democrats to his side, but the president continues to face angry and increasingly public criticism from lawmakers on both sides over the chaos descending on Kabul. .
After leaving the White House largely undefended, some Democratic leaders expressed tentative support after the speech.
“President Biden understands history when it comes to Afghanistan,” said Illinois Senator Richard J. Durbin, a member of the Democratic leadership. “He made the difficult decision not to hand over this longest US war to a fifth president, and had he walked away from the withdrawal agreement originally negotiated by President Trump, Taliban attacks on US troops would have started again and again. require a wave of the US. troops.”
But other lawmakers were adamant. Many moderate Democrats continued to be outraged at the Biden administration for what they saw as terrible planning for the evacuation of Americans and their allies. Liberal Democrats who have long sought to end military engagements around the world still grumbled that the images from Kabul are hurting their cause.
And the Republicans who cheered months ago for former President Donald J. Trump’s even quicker timetable to end U.S. military involvement in the country’s longest war have cast aside their previous encouragement to support Mr. Biden. accused of humiliating the country.
“America’s 20-year involvement in Afghanistan has had many authors,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. “So let the strategic missteps be made along the way. But as the monumental collapse that our own experts predicted is unfolding in Kabul today, the responsibility rests entirely on the shoulders of our current commander in chief.”
If Biden expected the bipartisan consensus on withdrawal from Afghanistan to shield him from criticism, he will most likely remain disappointed — at least for now.
“We didn’t have to be in this position; we didn’t have to see these scenes at the Kabul airport with our Afghan friends climbing a C-17,” said Representative Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and a former army guard who served in Afghanistan. “We should have started this evacuation months ago.”
Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and former Marine Corps captain, said he had been asking the government for a refugee plan for months. “I was very explicit: ‘We need a plan. We need someone in charge,” he said. “Honestly, we still haven’t really seen the plan.”
“They’ve had weeks. They had an astonishing coalition of liberal and conservative lawmakers willing to support the government in this effort,” continued Mr Moulton, who is a member of the Armed Services Committee. “I don’t think this was only a national security mistake, but also a political mistake.”
Jonathan Weisman reporting contributed.
