Neither leader discussed the threat of an imminent Taliban takeover in their last phone call, according to Reuters, but one theme was consistent from Biden: The situation needed to improve to change the optics in the final month before the U.S. was to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things aren’t going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” Biden told Ghani, according to excerpts of the 14-minute phone call obtained by Reuters that was authenticated by audio from the call. “And there’s a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
Two weeks before the call, on July 8, Biden told reporters in the U.S. that it was “highly unlikely” the Taliban would take control of Afghanistan.
The Biden Administration deliberately botched the May 1 withdrawal deadline. The Biden Administration scheduled the spectacle of our botched withdrawal to coincide with the anniversary of Nine Eleven. The Biden Administration watched Afghanistan collapsing all summer, and attempted to cover it up. The Biden Administration purposely attempted to abandon more than a hundred thousand US and international civilians in Afghanistan for the Taliban to deal with.