Ex-White House Spokesman Slams Biden for Putting Americans Notch 'Away From Bloodbath in Kabul'

Despite voices from both sides of the aisle, as well as the mainstream US media, criticising President Joe Biden for the decision to go forward with the withdraw from Afghanistan and for the way it has been carried out, POTUS himself has vehemently defended the move and continues to stress the alleged success of the endeavour.

US President Joe Biden put Americans "just one stray bullet away from a bloodbath in Kabul" with his Afghanistan policy, former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer has stated in an interview with WABC Radio. Fleischer specifically condemned the president's continuing defence of the chaotic efforts to evacuate all Americans and former Afghan associates via the Kabul Airport.

"I don't know that I've ever seen a politician, particularly at a perilous moment like this, be so in denial, out of touch, out to lunch and all around clueless", Fleischer said.

The former White House spokesperson went on to mock a situation, where the success of the American operation to pull out troops, US civilians, and Afghan visa applicants, was essentially dependent on the "mercies" and "restraint" of the Taliban*, who had previously seized the majority of Afghanistan including Kabul. He added that in his "wildest dreams" he couldn't imagine a situation where the American military's ability to control an airfield, receive and send airplanes would depend on the Taliban's cooperation.

"This is the consequence of Joe Biden just saying […] 'I'm smarter than all you generals, do it and do it now and do it on the timetable I told you'", the former WH spokesman said.

Fleischer also alleged that the Afghanistan policy was not Biden's only lapse in judgment, adding that he has had such on "many issues, for so many decades". He added that now it is just "playing out" for the entire country.

Biden Takes Flak Over Afghanistan From Both Sides of Aisle

The Bush administration spokesman's tirade is just the latest in the chorus of criticism that Biden has been facing over the past week since the Taliban finished its blitz offensive against the forces of now-deposed President Ashraf Ghani by capturing Kabul on 15 August. The rapid offensive, the one that POTUS claims the US had not anticipated, apparently caught Americans off guard forcing the emergency evacuation of embassy personnel.

Now, Washington is struggling to get other US nationals and Aghans, who fear for their lives over their helping the US and NATO, out of the country. The Kabul Airport was quickly overrun by locals, who in their desperation to flee grasped the landing gear of departing planes, only to subsequently perish. 

The chaotic evacuation process has been criticised not only by Biden's political opponents, but also by many Democrats and mainstream American media networks that usually side with POTUS. In his latest press conference, the president insisted that the US had made significant progress in terms of the evacuation process and that it is now going relatively smoothly, only to be contradicted by Pentagon officials, who admitted that Taliban fighters sometimes hinder those trying to get to the Kabul Airport. The same officials also contradicted Biden's claims that Washington had succeeded in driving al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan – the key goal of the nearly 20-year war in the country.

*The Taliban and al-Qaeda are terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other nations.