The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has recently been doing everything he can to avoid the large and pressing topic of Afghanistan.
On the weekend when the Afghanistan situation was developing, the White House Press Office issued weekend guidance which announced President Biden will be staying from Friday 13th August till Wednesday 18th August at Camp David – that’s 5 days away from the White House during a significant foreign policy crisis.
People picked up on this – pressure was forced on the White House, and President Biden was forced to end his visit to Camp David and fly back to the White House.
Upon his return, Biden gave an address on Afghanistan – taking no questions – where he shifted blame largely to the Afghan military for not doing anything to defend their country.
At yesterday’s recall of Parliament, many MPs spoke in disgust regarding the President’s remarks; and it didn’t go down too well on his side of the ocean either.
Yet – to the shock of many – shortly after the President gave this address, correspondents found an alert in their inboxes… the President was returning back to Camp David.
The White House stated that the President continued to receive national security briefings from the holiday retreat – but it raises a fairly simple question:
Wouldn’t it be easier to receive the latest information at the White House where you have all your team?
On Tuesday evening Biden returned to the White House on Marine One (very climate friendly… not). He did not have any public events upon his return.
It’d be reasonable to think that now the President has returned to the White House he will be focusing on Afghanistan… Nope. As per the POTUS’ schedule released to members of the press, nothing on the agenda related to Afghanistan.
He did, however, have a COVID Address – but allowed no questions to be asked.
Yesterday, Thursday the 19th of August, a national security briefing on Afghanistan was held in the situation room. Closed to the press. No questions to be taken.
The one time he did engage with the press was in an interview with ABC where he forgot when the events of Afghanistan happened.
In this interview, Biden was asked about the shocking videos of people clinging onto U.S. military aircraft, and replied ‘That was four days ago! That was five days ago!”
Perhaps viewers can imagine the sighs emanating from the White House Press Secretary.
With it coming up to the weekend, President Biden often heads to his home state of Delaware. It is yet to be confirmed if he intends to do so this week.
