The hasty withdrawal from Kabul has prompted comparisons with the fall of Saigon in 1975 (below)
BBC: Afghanistan conflict: As Kabul falls, Biden backlash grows
The lightning advance of the Taliban in retaking the country has led Afghan Americans, former generals and leading statesmen to blame President Joe Biden for a hasty US withdrawal.
But he appears to have the public on his side - for now.
Hadia Essazada wept as she recounted the horror the Taliban visited on her household, first beating her father, and then killing her brother.
The first time "they were beating my father with an iron rod because they were looking for my elder brother", who had fought to resist their rule in the 1990s, she told BBC Persian.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: U.S. polling has always shown that a majority of Americans want to leave Afghanistan.
But not like this.
NGOs who are still operating in territory that have been conquered by the Taliban are already reporting executions, the removal of young women from families, and threats that opponents to their rule will be handled harshly.
Bottom line.
Life will be hell for those on the losing side.
For the moment the backlash is mainly coming from politicians and pundits on TV, women who have seen all the gains that women have made in Afghanistan being eliminated, veterans who served in Afghanistan and who are now demanding answers, and some world leaders .... World leaders blame Biden, express disappointment with Afghanistan (FOX News).
Even former President Trump has jumped in .... Trump calls on Biden to 'resign in disgrace' amid Afghanistan withdrawal (Washington Examiner).
But I think the real backlash will occur when videos start to emerge on how harsh life is under Taliban rule. The return of burkas, child marriages, the persecution of minorities, public execution, issuing terror threats against the U.S., a massive refugee crisis numbering in the millions, etc..
What we are now seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.
Update: The optics are truly terrible .... Biden's words come back to haunt him: Just five weeks ago the president said there's 'no circumstance where Americans will be lifted out of the U.S. embassy in Kabul by helicopter' – and now he's trying to squirm out of it by blaming Trump (Daily Mail).
Update #2: Media outlets that have been friendly to President Biden in the past are no longer friendly .... ‘Clearly botched’: Biden White House under assault on Afghanistan drawdown (Politico).
