Wretchard.com

He [Biden] wanted all American troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

In the Oval Office, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wanted to make certain. “I take what you said as a decision, sir,” General Milley said, according to officials with knowledge of the meeting. “Is that correct, Mr. President?”

It was.

NYT

Debating Exit From Afghanistan, Biden Rejected Generals’ Views

Over two decades of war, the Pentagon had fended off the political instincts of elected leaders frustrated with the grind of Afghanistan. But President Biden refused to be persuaded.

He makes a blunder, denies it and doubles down. Some enormous character flaw and dysfunction is driving him to destruction.

His current strategy, incredibly, is that people will forget all about it. That the media will cover for him. But it can’t. He’s causing real damage now to powerful interests. His insurance, the incompetence of Harris, may not save him indefinitely.

“I just had the feeling that he was so wrapped up in the decision itself that he forgot the basics of implementation,” said Leon E. Panetta.

Biden Ran on Competence and Empathy. Afghanistan Is Testing That.

The chaotic endgame of the American withdrawal has undercut some of the most fundamental premises of President Biden’s presidency.

President Joe Biden ignored British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to contact him for approximately 36 hours as the Taliban cemented its control over Afghanistan, a report said.

Johnson tried to reach Biden on Monday morning, UK time, but wasn’t able to get him on the phone until 10 p.m. Tuesday (5 p.m. Washington time), according to The Daily Telegraph.

Biden ignored Boris Johnson for 36 hours as Afghan chaos grew: report

President Joe Biden ignored British PM Boris Johnson’s attempts to contact him for approximately 36 hours as the Taliban cemented its control over Afghanistan, a report said.

According to the readout, Macron described the mission to evacuate allies as a “moral responsibility” and told Biden: “We cannot abandon them.”…

The White House version, however, made no mention of a “moral responsibility” to evacuate Afghan allies.

US omits Macron’s plea for ‘moral responsibility’ from record of Afghanistan call

French readout of call with Biden included phrase, with Macron saying of Afghan allies: ‘We cannot abandon them’

In a way the Afghan catastrophe was God’s mercy; or if you prefer to put it another way, a stroke of luck. That might be a strange way of regarding a vast human tragedy, a monstrous betrayal and a sickening display of dishonesty and incompetence. But consider this: the world could have discovered the truth about its institutions and Joe Biden in particular when Russian missiles were inbound over the pole or the Chinese were landing in Taiwan.

Rahm Emmanuel appointed ambassador to Japan.

Harris faces task of convincing Asia of U.S. reliability after Afghan chaos

Vice President Kamala Harris, in a visit to Singapore and Vietnam next week that aims to counter China’s growing influence, will have to contend with a new problem: the collapse of Afghanistan, which has left allies questioning the credibility of U.S. foreign policy promises.

Biden stuns allies with Afghanistan mistakes expected of Trump

‘Greatest debacle that NATO has seen’: Biden stuns allies with Afghanistan mistakes expected of Trump

President Joe Biden’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan has sent a shiver of frustration and bewilderment through allies at home and abroad who regarded his inauguration as a break from former President Donald Trump’s oft-haphazard approach to foreign policy.

Biden has lost support among surveyed voters of all ages, all races, all genders and all political affiliations

Trump Would Beat Biden If Elections Were Today, Poll Shows

A Rasmussen poll shows that Biden has lost support among voters of all ages, races, genders and political affiliations, and if elections were held today, Trump would beat him.

• Biden said there was ‘no way’ to leave Afghanistan without chaos ensuing, but six weeks ago he said a Taliban takeover was ‘highly unlikely’
• Biden said US doesn’t have a military presence in Syria, but 900 troops remain 
• The president took questions from the media for the first time in over a week on Wednesday in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos 
• In one bizarre moment, Biden seemingly brushed off Afghani stowaways so desperate to flee they clung to a departing US plane before falling to their death 

President falsely stated US does not have troops in Syria

President Biden attempted to his explain his administration’s decision to stay the course on Afghanistan withdrawal, at times backing up his point with outright falsehoods.

I keep thinking of Hillary on the night she lost it all, except worse.

Something Is Wrong with the President | National Review

Biden’s latest interview, insistence that he was incorrectly briefed, and low profile amid the Afghanistan crisis all raise troubling questions.

In terms of conventional warfare the Taliban’s rapid, unopposed advance had the effect of encircling and cutting off 10,000 or more US citizens and upwards of 50,000 Afghans from friendly lines. They are in the “bag”.

The best chance of relief lay in the first days when the situation was fluid and the “bag” was full of holes. But with each passing day, the dispersal of civilians fleeing for their lives and the consolidation of Taliban lines has tightened the ring and a sudden dash to freedom is now very difficult.

The obvious options remaining to Biden are to:

In an editorial published today, The Global Times suggested America’s abandonment of Afghanistan after 20 years was an “omen” for Taiwan’s “future fate”.

‘The US won’t help’: China threatens Taiwan

China has pounced on the United States’ botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, using it to threaten the island of Taiwan.

The Biden administration said today that Kabul’s airport was open for military and commercial flights and that the Taliban had pledged to permit civilians to reach the airfield. But thousands of people trying to exit Afghanistan can’t get to the airport in the capital of Kabul and Taliban fighters are searching the homes and offices of Afghans affiliated with Western governments and organizations.

Major Newspapers Push to Get Workers Out of Afghanistan

The Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal issued a joint statement to the Biden administration on Monday requesting safe passage for their journalists.

Don’t be surprised at how things have turned into a shit show. We’ve been swallowing ordure for a long time, ingesting lies by the bucketful. Men are women, math is racist, the UN can save the planet, money for nothing, mediocrity — nay incompetence — is justice and whatever you see with your own eyes is hurtful to believe if the media tells you so.

This will work well enough with political partisans but the hard rivals of America will see it for an exercise in trying to cast incompetence as resoluteness. They will note:

1. He didn’t anticipate the outcome of his own orders;
2. He spent a long time sequestered writing a speech;
3. His ultimate reaction was to deny the situation and pass the buck.

New at the Belmont Club. The Only Adults in the Room have your back.

After days in seclusion at Camp David, a politician gives a speech. Now it’s time to move on to a future which will be just like the now forgotten recent past. Back to climate change, intersectionality. Now where was I?

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration urged the producer group to boost output to tackle rising gasoline prices it sees as a threat to the global economic recovery.

OPEC+ sees no need to meet U.S. call for more supply, sources say

OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters.