Conservatives attack Biden’s ‘strange’ speech in Afghanistan as ‘unsympathetic’

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Conservatives reacted angrily to Joe Biden’s speech, justifying his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan while blaming the country’s political leaders, with one lawmaker calling it “ugly.”

This comes after the US president used a patriotic speech the day after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, and chaos erupted at the airport, saying he was “behind” his decision to withdraw troops from the area.

Acknowledging the capture of Afghanistan “more quickly than we expected”, he said the country’s political leaders “given up and fled the country” – rather than resisting the insurgents.

“The Afghan army has collapsed, sometimes without even trying to fight,” he said. “American forces cannot and should not fight in a war and die in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”

Claiming that the country’s military is “well-equipped” with “every tool” they need, he continued, “We gave them every opportunity to decide their future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for their future.”

However, the speech sparked outrage in some Conservative circles, with MP Simon Clarke posting on social media: “The more I thought, the more I realized that the speech that POTUS gave last night was awful.

“A total rejection of America, many of us have been deeply impressed all our lives—the champion of freedom and democracy and the guardian of what is right in the world.”

Former Conservative MP Rory Stewart, who ran for party leadership in 2019, also described the speech to The Independent as “empty, devoid of empathy and naively pessimistic”.

As Tom Tugendhat, chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, told The Independent: “Shifting blame into the reality of the catastrophe expected in Afghanistan today is extraordinary.”

“We need to take responsibility for our actions and recognize the consequences of political decisions,” he said.

Speaking about the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab noted that the situation at Kabul International Airport was “stabilizing” as the UK continued attempts to evacuate British nationals, and granted visas to some Afghans.

The Cabinet Secretary revealed that around 2,000 British nationals had contacted the Foreign Office from Afghanistan, but he also echoed Defense Secretary Ben Wallace’s comments, saying there was “always a risk” that some people might be left behind if the situation deteriorates.

However, the foreign minister, who returned to London on Monday after being on holiday in Greece, tried to claim that no one saw the Taliban’s quick seizure of power in the country as “coming” as the government faced criticism over its strategy.

“We’ve been watching this very carefully, but the truth is people all over the world have been surprised,” he told Sky News.

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