Jen Psaki dismisses criticism from ex-colleague David Axelrod, who called Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan a “disaster”

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a White House press briefing on Monday, July 12, 2021. Evan Vucci / AP

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has defended President Joe Biden against criticism from a leading ally.

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod called Biden’s handling of the exit from Afghanistan a “disaster.”

Psaki argued that Biden had to make “tough choices” while Axelrod aired his opinions on television.

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended President Joe Biden against criticism from a leading ally, former senior Obama adviser David Axelrod, over the White House message on its controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Axelrod, a friend and former colleague of Psaki who praised the press secretary’s work under Biden, on Monday called the administration’s handling of the exit from Afghanistan a “disaster” and “failure.” He urged Biden to take responsibility for misjudging the situation on the ground. When a reporter asked him to respond to Axelrod’s criticisms during a press briefing on Tuesday, Psaki largely dismissed the criticism and argued that Biden had to make “tough choices” while Axelrod broadcast his opinions to television.

“There are few people in politics that I respect as much as David Axelrod, he’s brilliant and he’s also a great human being,” Psaki said. “But he would be the first to say that there is a difference between being outside and talking on TV and being inside and the tough choices you have to make.”

Axelrod responded to this comment by tweeting: “Correct”.

Psaki admitted that there were “chaotic moments” during the withdrawal and called the footage and footage of desperate Afghans rushing onto the tarmac at Kabul airport in an attempt to escape their country. “heartbreaking” origin. But she insisted that Biden supported her decisions and would not at this point take the blame for the widely criticized way the United States ended its occupation.

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Axelrod called the same images, and reports of thousands of American and Afghan allies stranded in a newly Taliban-controlled Kabul, a “nightmare scenario”.

“You can’t defend the execution here. It was a disaster,” Axelrod told CNN on Monday. “It’s heartbreaking, it’s depressing, and it’s a failure. And he has to take responsibility for this failure. He’s the commander-in-chief.”

After Biden’s White House speech on Monday, Axelrod criticized the president for failing to take responsibility for the US government’s misjudgment about how quickly and quickly the Afghan government would fall into the hands of the Taliban.

“. @ POTUS made a compelling argument on WHY we are leaving Afghanistan that will resonate with many,” he tweeted. “He didn’t take responsibility for the way we got out and the obvious failure to anticipate events as well.”

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