The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial board let loose on Vice President Kamala Harris for her role in President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal in an op-ed on Monday.
Monday marked the third anniversary of the terrorist bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 Americans as the United States exited from the country during Biden’s botched rollout. While Kamala Harris honored their sacrifice in a statement, she said she holds no regrets over what happened during what led up to the bombing.
“President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war,” she said.
The WSJ editorial board noted that Biden’s withdrawal was tantamount to an indefensible failure:
It’s good to know what she thinks, but it doesn’t reflect well on her judgment as a potential Commander in Chief. The withdrawal decision was arguably the worst of Mr. Biden’s Presidency, as he ignored the advice of nearly all of his advisers that a date-certain, total retreat would likely result in the collapse of the Afghan government and a Taliban takeover. Keeping a few thousand troops in support of the Afghan forces could have prevented the catastrophe and its consequences.
The op-ed cited statements made by Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who was in charge of Central Command at the time, during an appearance on the School of War podcast.
“What do you think the consequences are broadly of the collapse and us not being there?” the host asked.
“Well, I think on several levels, I think [Vladimir] Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was directly driven by this. I think the Chinese were emboldened as a result of it. I think that more operationally, I think ISIS-K flourishes now in Afghanistan. The attack in Moscow just a few months ago is only a sign of things to come,” said McKenzie.
“Our ability to actually look into Afghanistan, understand what goes on in Afghanistan, is such a small percentage of what it used to be, that it is effectively zero. So we predicted these things will happen, these things are happening. Our ability to, again, apply leverage here is quite limited,”McKenzie added.
The WSJ editorial board concluded the op-ed by noting that Biden and Harris were warned about the consequences.
“The needless deaths of those 13 Americans were the worst result, but the withdrawal also marked the end of Mr. Biden’s ability to deter adversaries around the world,” it wrote. “That Ms. Harris now embraces this failure suggests more of the same ahead if she wins in November.”
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