Biden: Afghan chaos 'gut-wrenching' but stands by withdrawal

President Joe Biden during the Trump administration had enunciated that he would end America’s longest war, no matter what.

He remained unflinching regarding his stance and rejected blame for the appalling scenes of Afghans clinging on to US military planes in Kabul in a desperate bid to flee their home country which the Taliban now helmed.

At the White House, Biden on Monday called the anguish of trapped Afghan civilians “gut-wrenching” and conceded the Taliban had achieved a much faster takeover of the country than his administration had expected.

“I stand squarely behind my decision” to finally withdraw U.S. combat forces, Biden said. Despite declaring “the buck stops with me,” Biden placed almost all blame on Afghans for the shockingly rapid Taliban conquest.

His grim comments were his first in person to the world since the biggest foreign policy crisis of his still-young presidency.

Emboldened by the US withdrawal, Taliban fighters launched a blitzkrieg and captured the capital, Kabul, sending US-backed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country.

Biden said he had warned Ghani -who was appointed Afghanistan’s president in a US-negotiated agreement – to be prepared to fight a civil war with the Taliban after US forces left. “They failed to do any of that,” he said.

Internationally, the spectacle of the Taliban takeover and the chaos of the evacuation effort was raising doubts about America’s commitments to its allies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “bitter” to watch the complete collapse in a war that Germany and other NATO partners had followed the U.S. into after the 11 September attacks, which were plotted from Afghanistan. The humiliating scenes seemed certain to give comfort to American foes.

At home, it all sparked sharp criticism, even from members of Biden’s own political party, who implored the White House to do more to rescue fleeing Afghans, especially those who had aided the two-decade American military effort.

“We didn’t need to be seeing the scenes that we’re seeing at Kabul airport with our Afghan friends climbing aboard C-17s,” said Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and Iraq and Afghanistan military veteran.

“It could have been done deliberately and methodically,” Crow said.

Kabul catastrophe may spill over into Biden’s domestic affairs as he works build congressional support for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

At least seven people died in the chaos, including two who clung to the wheels of a C-17 and plunged to the tarmac as it flew away, and two others shot by U.S. forces. Americans said the men were armed but there was no evidence that they were Taliban.

With tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and others as well as Afghans desperate to escape, Biden insisted the U.S. had done all it could to plan.

In fact, Afghan leaders had asked the U.S. not to publicly play up any advance efforts to evacuate former military translators, female activists and others most at risk from the Taliban, saying that in itself could trigger what the Afghans said could be “a crisis of confidence,” Biden said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said late Monday that the U.S had resumed airlifts out after suspending them due to the morning’s stampedes onto the runways by frightened Afghans.