Wall Street Journal blasts Biden for blaming Afghanistan crisis on Trump: A ‘pathetic denial’

The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal issued a forceful rebuke of President Biden’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan, a calamity that Biden over the weekend suggested is partly the result of former President Trump’s policy toward the war-torn nation.  

“President Biden’s statement on Saturday washing his hands of Afghanistan deserves to go down as one of the most shameful in history by a Commander in Chief at such a moment of American retreat,” the editors wrote on Sunday. “As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, Mr. Biden sent a confirmation of U.S. abandonment that absolved himself of responsibility, deflected blame to his predecessor, and more or less invited the Taliban to take over the country.”

Trump, Biden said in a Saturday statement issued from Camp David, “left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on US forces.”

“Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies’ forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict,” the president added.

The Journal’s editors said that portion of Biden’s public statement blaming Trump for the crisis “exemplifies his righteous dishonesty.”