Paula Lugones
08/28/2021 15:15
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/28/2021 3:58 PM
The image of Joe Biden clinging to a black folder, head down, desolate and on the verge of tears in front of journalists to try to explain the death of 13 American soldiers in Afghanistan, was exactly the photo that the White House wanted to avoid when the president decided to withdraw the troops of that country after 20 years of war.
Biden, who faced the press with tearful eyes on Thursday after the suicide bombing at Kabul airport, now sought to go on the offensive with the early Saturday morning attack on a position of the jihadist group ISIS-K, in a province of southern Afghanistan.
In this way, he wants to replace that gloomy image with that of a president in action, who keeps his promise to "hunt down" those responsible and "make them pay" for the deaths of the Americans and 170 other Afghans who collaborated with them.
But Biden's drama is not limited today to taking revenge or safely evacuating his soldiers from the disaster in Afghanistan before August 31, the withdrawal deadline.
Chaos and dozens of deaths and injuries, this Thursday in Kabul, after the violent terrorist attack in the capital of Afghanistan.
Photo: REUTERS
Battle in Washington
The president now supports
another battle front
that threatens him more closely than the crisis in the Asian country: several Republicans
ask him to resign and speak of impeachment
and even the Democrats attack him with "friendly fire" with criticism for having trusted in the Taliban to defend the Kabul airport, which ended up being the site of the worst attack by US troops in a decade.
Although the United States tends to unite in the face of national tragedies, the deep rift that exists in Washington grows with Afghanistan.
From the Republican ranks come the harshest criticisms.
"Joe Biden has blood on his hands," House Republican No. 3 Elise Stefanik wrote on Twitter.
"The president must resign," claimed Republican Senator Josh Hawley, accusing him of being responsible for the "abject failure in Afghanistan."
Another colleague, Marsha Blackburn, bluntly called on all senior officials in the Biden administration to resign.
Taliban militiamen patrol the streets of Kabul this Saturday.
Photo: AP
Without actually calling for his resignation, Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy said that Biden's actions “exude weakness, incompetence.” “To be commander-in-chief, you have to have the trust” of the Americans, but Biden lost it, he claimed.
Impeachment?
Some Republicans consider different ideas:
from an impeachment in Congress to impeachment through the 25th amendment of the Constitution
, which establishes that the vice president can assume powers in the event of the president's inability in office.
"I think that Biden should be put under indictment and that this is the most disgraceful thing a commander-in-chief has done in modern times," said ultra-conservative Senator Lindsey Graham.
It is next to impossible for an impeachment trial to succeed
as Democrats control both houses and a large majority is needed to activate it.
However, these calls against the president could mobilize Republican voters as the crucial midterm parliamentary elections approach in November 2022, when the opposition hopes to regain a majority.
Biden's popularity has already fallen by about 3 points
since August 1, under the effect of the Afghan crisis, but also because of the covid-19 outbreak in the United States caused by the Delta variant, according to RealClearPolitics.
"Fire friend"
Afghanistan also aroused
criticism within the Democratic ranks themselves
.
The loudest voice came from Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Upper House Foreign Relations Committee, who called an emergency session of Congress to address the crisis in Afghanistan, and called for lawmakers to interrupt their summer vacation.
The lines of Afghans seeking to flee the country continued this Saturday in front of the Kabul airport.
Photo: AFP
"While we wait for more details about what happened, one thing is clear: we cannot trust the Taliban with the safety of the Americans," he said in a statement.
More subtly, the Democratic chief of deputies, Nancy Pelosi, asked legislators to avoid traveling to that country and said she was "very concerned" about the security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
Ahmet Kuru, professor of Political Science at San Diego State University and author of “Islam, authoritarianism and underdevelopment”, told
Clarín
that “Republicans will try to take advantage of this moment;
they will particularly use American casualties during the withdrawal process.
However, the main problem for them is that this disastrous invasion was decided and ordered by a Republican president: George W. Bush ”.
Matthew Beckmann, professor of Political Science at the University of California, also highlighted
this point
to
Clarín
: “The reality is that there is no elegant way to lose a war.
As we take a more historical perspective, I suspect that the legacy of the failures in Afghanistan will lie with George W. Bush.
and then Barack Obama much more than Donald Trump or Joe Biden. "
The expert believes that the president can overcome these turbulences that reveal him today.
He added, "Americans (and lawmakers) would obviously prefer things to go well, but in the end, most citizens and members of Congress will move on as soon as American soldiers return home."
Everyone agrees that
Afghanistan will be a stain on Biden's legacy
.
The image of the airport disaster and that of an overwhelmed and powerless president will not be easy to forget.
The challenge now is not to add a severe political cost.
Washington, correspondent
CB
Look also
Stuck with no way out in Afghanistan: Joe Biden's government at its worst
Under threat of more attacks, Britain ends Kabul evacuation