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The administration of US President Joe Biden is coming under fire from many, most of whom Republicans, regarding the situation in Afghanistan. Biden administration officials are now pushing back against the criticism, saying that the previous administration did not leave a plan in place.
Biden administration officials are now speaking out, pushing back against the criticism that has come their way, following Biden’s acknowledgment that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was not as organized along with the rapid advancing of the Taliban into the capital Kabul. The officials said that they were not given a plan to implement regarding the withdrawal even as the disgraced, now-former President Donald Trump brokered an agreement with the insurgent group in Doha, promising that the US would leave the war-torn country by May.
Axios reported that one Biden administration official said that the previous administration did not leave a plan in place for the withdrawal, echoing previous criticisms against the Trump administration for failing to leave a plan for COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
“There was no plan to evacuate our diplomats to the airport. None of this was on the shelf, so to speak. When we got in on Jan. 20, we saw that the cupboard was bare,” said the official.
“The entire policy process had atrophied. It was really manifest here. On the one hand, they set a May deadline for withdrawal. On the other hand, there was no interagency planning on how to execute a withdrawal,” said another Biden administration official.
It should also be noted that Trump’s team slow-rolled the incoming Biden administration on the details of the agreement made in Doha during the transition. Trump was also revealed to have signed a secret agreement after losing the 2020 elections that the US would leave Afghanistan before Biden was to take office in January.
Biden previously ordered to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan in order to assist the withdrawal process. Biden had also warned the Taliban against taking any action on US personnel or disrupting the exit from the country. The US leader released a statement over the weekend, saying that 5,000 troops have been dispatched in the region to assist in evacuating the US Embassy in Kabul and in the evacuation process.
The deployment of troops would also be used to assist Afghans going through a special visa program.
