JOE FAKES COMMAND
Told Afghan prez: Create ‘perception’ all is OK
President Biden pressured former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to create the “perception” that the Taliban weren’t winning — “whether it’s true or not” — in a phone call just three weeks before the insurgents seized control of the country, a bombshell leaked transcript shows.
Biden and Ghani spoke for roughly 14 minutes on July 23 in what would be their final call before the Taliban overran the government and Afghanistan descended into bloody chaos amid the botched US withdrawal, according to a transcript and audio obtained by Reuters.
Much of the call focused on what Biden referred to as the Afghan government’s “perception” issue.
“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden said.
“And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
At the time, the Taliban had already seized about half of the country’s district centers, with forces less than a month from taking Kabul, on Aug. 15.
Biden told Ghani that Afghanistan’s prominent political figures — including former Afghan President Hamid Karzai — should give a joint press conference that backed a new military strategy on how to defeat the Taliban, saying, “That will change perception, and that will change an awful lot, I think.
“I’m not a military guy, so I’m not telling you what that plan should
precisely look like. You’re going to get not only more help, but you’re going to get a perception that is going to change in terms of how, um . . . our allies and folks here in the States and other places think you’re doing.”
Biden also heaped praise on Afghan security forces — which were trained and funded by the United States before dissolving in a matter of weeks amid the US withdrawal — and offered aid if Ghani would publicly put out a plan that showed he could control the spiraling situation.
“You clearly have the best military,” Biden said.
“You have 300,000 well-armed forces versus 70, 80,000, and they’re clearly capable of fighting well.
“In addition to that, we are going to continue to fight hard, diplomatically, politically, economically, to make sure your government not only survives, but is sustained and grows because it is clearly in the interest of the people of Afghanistan that you succeed and you lead.”
The transcript shows that Biden could well have anticipated the Taliban was capable of completing a takeover. But neither he nor Ghani appeared aware of how quickly the country would fall to the insurgents, who three weeks later stormed Kabul, prompting Ghani to flee.
In fact, Ghani said he believed there could be peace if he could “rebalance the military solution,” adding, “We need to move with speed.”
“We are facing a full-scale invasion, composed of Taliban, full Pakistani planning and logistical support, and at least 10-15,000 international terrorists, predominantly Pakistanis thrown into this,” Ghani told Biden, pointing to Pakistani support for the Taliban as key to the group’s resurgence.
Ghani fled as the Taliban seized control of Kabul, and the call was reported to be the last between the two leaders.
Since then, tens of thousands have fled the country, and 13 US service members and 169 Afghans were killed in a suicide bombing in the final days of the chaotic mass evacuations, which ended Monday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday refused to answer questions about the report.
“I’m not going to get into private diplomatic conversations or leaked transcripts of phone calls,” she told reporters at a daily briefing.
Some GOP lawmakers expressed outrage over the call, even calling for Biden’s resignation.
“The result of Biden’s LIES was 13 brave Americans losing their lives,” Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson wrote on Twitter. “HE NEEDS TO RESIGN!”
“Yet more evidence that Joe Biden is totally disconnected from the real world,” tweeted Georgia Rep. Jody Hice. “’Changing perception’ is political spin, not a national security strategy.”
Psaki maintained that the reporting on the call was “consistent” with the administration’s past assertions that “no one anticipated . . . that the Taliban would be able to take over the country as quickly as they did or that the Afghan national security forces would fold as quickly as they did.”
“What the president conveyed publicly and certainly privately . . . is that it’s important that the leaders in Afghanistan do exactly that — lead, show the country they are ready to continue the fight,” Psaki said.
In a readout of Biden and Ghani’s call, the White House only said at the time that the two leaders “discussed the situation in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their commitment to an enduring bilateral partnership.”