US : President Joe Biden wants to convince Americans he’s in charge and understands the heartache caused by a week of politically damaging chaos in Kabul unleashed by his botched Afghanistan withdrawal plan.
Biden is seeking to seize back the initiative and to paint a picture of a commander-in-chief on top of a crisis, after days in which he appeared overtaken by dire events, defiant about his decisions, indifferent to the suffering of Afghan civilians and more in the mood to blame others than take responsibility.
We’re working hard and as fast as we can to get people out,” Biden said in a televised address to the nation, that attempted to reframe the confusion and point to real improvements in the rescue effort but also hedge against possible reversals in a fraught security situation amid terror threats in Kabul.
“Our determination to get every American citizen home and to evacuate our Afghan allies is unwavering,” the President said, after he canceled a weekend in Delaware to stay close to his national security and disaster management teams.
His remarks — which still raised more questions when an official later clarified Biden’s
statements about the expansion of a safe zone around Kabul airport — carried a strong sense of a political reset following a week in which images of helicopters lifting off from the US embassy in Kabul projected the impression of a humiliating retreat after a 20-year war that ended in defeat.
CNN
