Retired US marines have lashed out at National Security Council spokesman John Kirby over his upbeat characterization of the chaotic 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he claimed was largely successful.
Chad Robichaux, a veteran of the Afghanistan war and co-founder of the Save Our Allies non-profit group, told a US broadcaster that Americans can see through the Biden administration’s “lies” and that Kirby's comments were not entirely accurate, given facts on the ground.
“It is no shocker when Biden or his clown-show press secretaries lie, but to have a former US Navy admiral do the same is a national tragedy," Robichaux said, in a nod to Kirby.
Robichaux added that as a fellow veteran, it made him “sad to see former military leaders turn on our [US] citizens for personal and political gain.”
He was echoed by retired special force soldier Scott Mann, who told the broadcaster that Kirby’s lack of sensitivity was “egregious.”
“I've been talking to veterans and veterans' groups all morning about this. One of the reasons that I think that veterans are so upset about this is like my friend… an Afghanistan combat veteran, says: it's not about what happened," Mann said.
Referring to the “absence of accountability,” he explained: “What worries veterans so much is that we've got all of these problems now with violent extremist groups coming up in Afghanistan.”
“We've got a massive moral injury on our veteran population and if you're not willing to take accountability for your actions as a leader at any level, then there's a real good chance you're not going to take any actions to fix what happened,” Mann pointed out.
The same tone was struck by retired Lieutenant Colonel Danny Davis, who said that he was perplexed by Kirby's unwillingness to dub the US troop exit from Afghanistan as “chaos.”
“I don't know what definition of 'not chaos' you can have when you have those images that are iconic… where people are chasing the aircraft as it is driving across the tarmac… and of course, the catastrophic explosion that killed a lot of US Marines,” Davis said.
He was referring to the August 26 suicide bomb attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul which claimed the lives of 13 US service members and at least 170 Afghans in 2021.
The veterans’ remarks followed Kirby telling the White House press briefing on Thursday that “for all this talk of chaos, I just didn't see it. Not from my perch.” According to him, "[N]ot one single mission was missed. So I'm sorry. I just don't buy the whole argument of chaos.”
Trump Scolds Biden Over Afghan Troop Pullout
Former US President Donald Trump chimed in on his Truth Social media platform, saying that it was Joe Biden who was solely responsible for the debacle and that the new White House report blaming the Trump administration for the withdrawal holds no water.
"These Morons in the White House, who are systematically destroying our Country, headed up by the biggest Moron of them all, Hopeless Joe Biden, have a new disinformation game they are playing - Blame 'TRUMP' for their grossly incompetent SURRENDER in Afghanistan. Biden is responsible, no one else!" the 45th US president argued.
The comments came after the White House released a summary report of the operation to evacuate US forces, citizens and Afghan allies in August 2021. The report, in particular, claims that President Joe Biden's plan to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan was "severely constrained" by the strategy he inherited from his predecessor.
The US troop withdrawal featured images of utter chaos at Kabul Airport and beyond, with experts comparing the photos to the 1975 fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War. The situation resulted in thousands of stranded Afghan allies and Americans being left behind, a deadly terror attack and a retaliatory US strike that mistakenly killed an innocent family.
The Taliban* took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, triggering the collapse of the US-backed government and accelerating its troop pullout. On August 31, 2021, US forces completed their withdrawal from the country, ending their 20-year-long military presence.
*The Taliban is an organization under UN sanctions for terrorism.