Joe Biden recently blew off reporters once again when they attempted to ask him questions about the crisis unfolding across Afghanistan. At the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington on Sunday, Biden volleyed questions from reporters, though he refused to address Afghanistan.
Biden had been present at FEMA in order to address the response to Hurricane Ida, which strengthened to a major category 4 storm before making landfall in Louisiana on Sunday.
“I’m not supposed to take any questions but go ahead,” Biden informed Jennifer Jacobs, a reporter with Bloomberg News.
“Mr. President, on Afghanistan-,” Ms. Jacobs began, only for Biden to abruptly interrupt her train of thought.
“I’m not gonna answer on Afghanistan now,” Biden said abruptly. He then walked away from the podium and refused to answer further questions.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) reacted strongly to Biden’s unfavorable exchange with the press, which emerged just three days after ISIS-K terrorists launched a horrific attack on the airport in Kabul, which killed 13 American service members and over 170 Afghanis.
Since the Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden has faced enormous criticism from multiple sources, including the actions that he took during and after the collapse of Kabul. As a result of the withdrawal, the Taliban has retaken hold of Afghanistan two decades after they were initially thrown out by American-led forces.
However, Biden has issued repeated defenses for his plan, despite the fact that hundreds of American citizens, as well as tens of thousands of Afghan allies and Afghans, remain highly vulnerable to vengeance from the Taliban.
In the past month, Biden informed Americans that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was extremely unlikely, and he also added that he had faith in “the capacity of the Afghan military.” Biden has largely avoided cameras after the August 15 collapse of Kabul, opting to watch the catastrophe unfold from the presidential retreat at Camp David, located in Maryland.
Within just three days of Kabul’s collapse, Biden also faced fierce criticism for delivering public remarks on COVID while failing to address the ballooning crisis in Afghanistan. He has routinely refused to answer questions, and his remarks last Tuesday were delayed by more than four hours after facing rescheduling twice. Moreover, when recently promulgating his “Build Back Better” agenda, Biden only mentioned Afghanistan briefly at the end.
