Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - President Joe Biden is vowing to complete the evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan despite the deadly suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport. He promised to avenge the deaths of 13 U.S. service members killed in the attack, declaring to the extremists responsible: "We will hunt you down and make you pay."
Reaction to the events in Kabul were swift, with one local congressman placing blame squarely on the shoulders of President Biden. Congressman Chris Jacobs wants congress called back to hold Biden accountable.
"I'm mad because I don't believe we needed to be in this place, and this is the direct result of the decision-making of Joe Biden," says Jacobs. "The way he withdrew troops here, the incompetent way he has handled this withdrawal created a very chaotic and dangerous environment for our troops to have to go back in and bail him out, and also in an effort to try and get Americans over there, and Afghans who served patriotically over there and get them out." Jacobs says people in uniform are doing the best they can in a circumstance that didn't have to be that way.
Jacobs says the US looks weak to the world. "We are trying to ask permission of the Taliban on what we can or cannot do. It's unprecedented what we're seeing here," says Jacobs. He is calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the House back to hold Biden accountable. "We also want to really challenge Joe Biden on his steadfastness to leaving on August 31st. I don't think that's feasible to get everyone out safely," says Jacobs, who calls the crisis self-inflicted.
Jacobs says the deal to withdraw brokered by then-President Donald Trump was condition-based. "If things weren't met, they wouldn't withdraw. The conditions weren't being met. but look to say they were obligated to abide by anything President Trump negotiated, Joe Biden hasn't adhered to anything from the Keystone Pipeline to the southern border," says Jacobs. He says this is all on Biden, and BIden's fallen on his leadership moment.
How important will the president's response be? At the University of Buffalo Political Science Depatment, Shawn Donahue says it will be very important.
"Even prior to what has happened in Afghanistan, his approval ratings have been slowly going down to the point the polling average is showing he's even, but on a downward trajectory," explains Donahue. "The American people want to see a commander-in-chief has a strong response." Donahue says as American forces are trying to pull out of Afghanistan, the question is how do you pull out when you may have to escalate at the same time. "It's going to be difficult for the president to come up with a great response," notes Donahue.
Donahue says Biden will have a difficult decision if all Americans who want to leave Afghanistan can't get out by August 31st, whether to end operations that day or extend the deadline.
