In an address from the White House, Biden stood by his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and blamed Afghan leaders for giving up as the Taliban takes control. https://t.co/lzMr8IwqvO
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) August 16, 2021
"Here's what I believe to my core: It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan's own armed forces would not," President Biden says https://t.co/xc80oiC1iW pic.twitter.com/EWMFuQRPKZ
— CNN (@CNN) August 16, 2021
President Biden: "I am president of the United States of America and the buck stops with me. I'm deeply saddened by the facts we now face. But I do not regret my decision to end America's war-fighting in Afghanistan and maintain a laser focus on our counterterrorism missions."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 16, 2021
Biden says at the White House that the US waited to start the evacuation after the Afghan govt “discouraged us from organizing a mass exodus” that could destroy morale and trigger a crisis of confidence.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 16, 2021
Did the military just lie about the work they've been doing with Afghan soldiers? They presumed they would hold for 18 months but they barely lasted ten days.
— Eliza Ziegler (@sapphiceliza) August 16, 2021
"as the U.S. military struggles to even secure the airport grounds, thousands of U.S. citizens who didn’t make it there yet are hiding and hoping someone saves them before roaming Taliban gangs find them."
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) August 16, 2021
Tell me again this was impossible to prepare forhttps://t.co/SnQ01XE9uJ
Biden was asked in July whether a Taliban takeover was inevitable. “No, it is not,” he said, pointing to 300,000 “well-equipped” Afghan security forces. Little more than a month later, the Afghan military collapsed. How did the US training go so wrong?https://t.co/97CEzXiIMr
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 16, 2021
BREAKING: Donald Trump has deleted statements from his website demanding America withdraw from Afghanistan saying it would be a “wonderful and positive thing to do.”
— Perry Lambert (@perry_lambert) August 16, 2021
Biden says human rights center of US policy. A hard sell tonight where im sitting outside the kabul airport.
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) August 16, 2021
As awful, as it is symbolic. https://t.co/hxs00PuUEv
— Declan Harvey (@NewsDeclan) August 16, 2021
Another sign of how the politics of this are going to be confused, as half of Republlicans & the right are criticizing Biden for not doing more to bring in Afghans, while the other half are attacking him for bringing in any Afghans https://t.co/l2J6bAufeN
— Steven Lemongello (@SteveLemongello) August 16, 2021
Buried lede: even at this bleak moment and after 48 hrs of insanely negative coverage 49% support Biden’s withdrawal, 37% oppose. https://t.co/uH4sbnszLA
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 16, 2021
"Dear President Biden," the publishers of the @nytimes, @washingtonpost, and @WSJ write… pic.twitter.com/ldmvUCDUs7
— David Gura (@davidgura) August 16, 2021
Who lost Afghanistan? Well, it wasn't ours to lose. But one thing is for certain: everyone lied.https://t.co/1uUKZ4wdgV
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 16, 2021
The Overnight Note 