Blinken defends Afghanistan withdrawal

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not anticipate the Afghan government would collapse while U.S. forces were still in the country, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Monday. In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he once again blamed the Trump administration for the military’s disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying President Joe Biden inherited a deal with the Taliban to end the war.

Was the deal bad to begin with? Republicans have noted that the Taliban repeatedly violated that agreement and the Biden administration did nothing to enforce it. They have demanded to know why American citizens were left behind in Afghanistan and said they did not get satisfactory answers on Monday.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s ongoing coverage of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan