I didn’t watch Joe Biden’s statement about the attack on Americans and others at the Kabul airport. Less than a year into his presidency, I’ve reached the point where I can’t stand to watch the guy — this, even though his appearances have been sparse.
This report on Biden’s comments show them to be lame and stupid. Biden said:
We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation. We will rescue Americans, we will get our Afghan allies, and the mission will go on.
But the mission is, in essence, ignominious surrender. Are the perpetrators of the bombing supposed to be cowed or impressed that Biden won’t be deterred from turning Afghanistan over to terrorists?
“We will not be deterred” are fine words when America is on the march. They are pathetic words when America is in full retreat.
Biden also said to the perpetrators:
We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.
How does Biden propose to hunt anyone down in Afghanistan? It was difficult enough to hunt down Osama bin Laden when we had a huge force in that country. Indeed, we never caught up with the 9/11 mastermind while he was in that country.
With no military presence in Afghanistan and no Afghans in their right mind willing to work with us again, it seems unlikely that we can hunt down anyone there.
Biden claimed “we have some reason to believe we know who they [the perpetrators] are, and we will find ways for our choosing, without large military operations, to get them, wherever they are.” (Emphasis added.)
To me, this sounds like Biden doesn’t actually know who is behind the attack and has no clear idea where those who might be responsible are. Nor, as I suggested above, are we in a good position to find out. We’re leaving Afghanistan and it’s unlikely we’ll be able to keep track of what’s going on there — at least not to the degree required for Biden to fulfill his promise of vengeance.
Maybe Biden will rely on intelligence from the Taliban. Such reliance would be consistent with his approach to the entire surrender. It’s conceivable that the Taliban will want the U.S. to strike at some rival group of terrorists. Whether, in this improbable scenario, the Taliban would give us accurate information is very much in doubt.
I hope Biden keeps his pledge to hunt down those responsible for the killing of Americans at the Kabul aiport. But I doubt not only whether the U.S. has the capability to redeem Biden’s words, but whether Biden uttered them with a high degree of seriousness.
I suspect that Biden mouthed them because someone on his media team thought they might impress Americans. I’d be surprised if any of his words did.
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