World
Republicans furious at Biden’s Afghanistan review, Democrats mum
Washington, DC – Republicans have expressed outrage after the administration of President Joe Biden largely blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for the shortcomings of the USA withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A abstract report launched by the White Home on Thursday justified how the present administration carried out the chaotic US exit from Afghanistan in 2021. It mentioned Biden’s “decisions for easy methods to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan have been severely constrained by circumstances created” by Trump.
That evaluation sparked a rebuke from Republicans in Congress, who accused the Biden administration of absolving itself of duty by pointing the finger on the former president.
Key Democrats in Congress have stayed principally mum concerning the overview.
Congressman William Timmons referred to as the report a “partisan absurdity”, invoking an ISIL (ISIS) assault on an evacuation operation in Kabul throughout the US withdrawal that killed at the very least 175 individuals, together with 13 American service members, in 2021.
“Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan instantly resulted within the lack of 13 US service members, the deaths of 1000’s of Afghans, and billions of {dollars} of US navy tools left within the arms of the Taliban,” Timmons, a South Carolina Republican, wrote on Twitter.
Biden can deflect all he needs for the Afghanistan withdrawal, however beneath his watch:
❌People have been deserted
❌13 service members died
❌Navy tools was left for the TalibanActual leaders take duty for his or her choices. Biden refuses & he needs to be ashamed.
— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) April 6, 2023
The internationally backed Afghan authorities collapsed in August 2021, because the Taliban took over the capital, Kabul, with out main combating amid the pullout of US forces.
American troops — confined to the realm across the metropolis’s airport till their closing withdrawal on the finish of that month — oversaw a large, two-week operation to get determined Afghans out.
On Thursday, White Home nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby mentioned the US authorities was “proud” of having the ability to safe the airport and serving to greater than 100,000 Afghan allies go away the nation.
“No one’s saying that every part was good. However there was rather a lot that went proper,” he advised reporters.
Kirby mentioned no US company had predicted that the federal government in Kabul would fall so shortly and that Afghan forces would “fail to battle for the nation” after 20 years of American assist.
“One other lesson realized was the necessity to plan early and extensively for the low-probability, high-risk eventualities,” Kirby mentioned throughout a information convention.
Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the Home International Affairs Committee, referred to as Kirby’s remarks “disgraceful and insulting”.
“President Biden made the choice to withdraw and even picked the precise date; he’s answerable for the huge failures in planning and execution,” McCaul mentioned in a press release.
The Trump administration had negotiated a withdrawal settlement with the Taliban in 2020 that Biden pushed to honour.
The American individuals, and even media, is aware of Pres Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal was one of many worst international coverage disasters in America’s historical past.
Watch this reporter expose the admin for making an attempt to bury the report the American individuals demanded…simply earlier than a vacation weekend. pic.twitter.com/UUnIxXxFJ8
— Rep. Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) April 6, 2023
However the overview slammed the previous Republican president for an absence of planning to hold out the deal. It additionally accused Trump of failing to meaningfully contain the federal government of then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in talks with the Taliban.
Ghani finally fled the nation when the Taliban fighters took over Kabul in 2021.
“Throughout the transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, the outgoing administration supplied no plans for easy methods to conduct the ultimate withdrawal or to evacuate People and Afghan allies,” the US report mentioned on Thursday.
In the end, the Biden administration defended the withdrawal on Thursday, saying that the US had change into slowed down in a conflict with “unclear targets and no finish in sight”.
Trump appeared furious with the overview’s findings, calling White Home officers and Biden “morons” and accusing them of spreading “disinformation” accountable him for the withdrawal.
“I watched this catastrophe unfold similar to everybody else,” he mentioned on his Fact Social web site. “Biden is accountable, nobody else!”
The report got here as Trump — who’s searching for the White Home once more in 2024 — returned to the headlines, going through fees in New York over hush-money funds made within the lead-up to the 2016 elections.
Public opinion polls present that almost all People supported pulling US troops from Afghanistan but in addition disagreed with the way in which the withdrawal was dealt with.
On Thursday, Jim Risch, the highest Republican on the Senate International Relations Committee, questioned the timing of the report’s launch, upfront of Good Friday and Easter weekend, describing it as a “clear try to bury the information”.
Risch mentioned the Afghanistan withdrawal emboldened Washington’s adversaries, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
“Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, our Center East companions’ outreach to Beijing, and Xi’s elevated threats to Taiwan are all linked to and come up from this debacle,” the senator mentioned in a press release.
For his half, Mike Rogers, chair of the Home Armed Providers Committee, referred to as the Biden administration’s evaluation a “spineless piece of fiction”.
“President Biden performed this withdrawal, and President Biden wants to just accept duty for the tragedy that occurred,” Rogers mentioned in a press release.
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Trump could face renewed ISIS threat in Syria as Turkey goes after US ally
Concerns over a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria remain heightened following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and an increase in attacks targeting U.S.-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
President-elect Donald Trump may well face another round against the extremist group as the SDF faces a reality in which it may have to divide its focus between ISIS and threats levied at it by Turkey.
The SDF said five of its soldiers were killed Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria, reported Reuters.
TRUMP SAYS TURKEY ‘DID AN UNFRIENDLY TAKEOVER’ IN SYRIA AS US-BROKERED CEASE-FIRE APPEARS TO FAIL
The attacks came following an apparent collapse in a cease-fire agreement brokered by the Biden administration as the U.S. and the SDF ramp up efforts to counter ISIS.
National security advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday told CNN that his “single biggest concern” is the return of ISIS, which was deemed “defeated” in 2019.
“ISIS loves vacuums,” he said in reference to the extremist group’s use of power struggles in places like North Africa to gain footholds. “What we see in Syria right now are areas that are basically ungoverned because of the fall of the Assad regime.
“Our goal is to ensure that we support the SDF — the Kurds — and that we keep ISIS in check,” he added.
The U.S. has long had to balance its campaign against ISIS in Syria — which it is fighting with the help of the Kurdish coalition forces, despite Turkey deeming the SDF as akin to the terrorist network the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — with Washington’s partnership alongside Ankara as a NATO ally.
“The SDF and the Assad regime were the primary opponents of ISIS,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of “The Long War Journal,” told Fox News Digital. “With the former gone and the latter under pressure from Turkish proxies, concerns about the expansion of ISIS are warranted.”
“Turkey wants to destroy the SDF,” Roggio confirmed. “Turkey has the ideal opportunity to destroy the SDF, and it will take advantage of this unique situation. I expect attack[s] against the SDF to increase.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S SYRIA DILEMMA: INTERVENE OR LET IT TURN INTO TERROR STATE
The Biden administration has already taken steps to ramp up its campaign against ISIS, hitting more than 75 sites in a significant strike earlier this month on known “ISIS leaders, operatives and camps,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.
The operation coincided with the fall of Damascus on Dec. 8 following a sweeping takeover of Aleppo, Hama and Homs by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was aided by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).
In addition, CENTCOM on Thursday killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif aka Mahmud using a precision airstrike in eastern Syria — an area where, according to Syrian news outlets, ISIS has been able to seize weapons depots belonging to the former Syrian military under the Assad regime amid the “chaos.”
SDF forces in an attempt to clamp down on ISIS uprisings captured 18 ISIS terrorists and suspected collaborators on Sunday near the city of Raqqa, which was once an ISIS stronghold, according to ANF News.
The campaign was reportedly done “in cooperation with the international coalition forces,” but CENTCOM has not yet confirmed whether the U.S. was involved.
But concern remains high that the SDF could see its operational abilities divided as attacks from the Turkey-backed SNA coalition forces increase — which could spell trouble for the upcoming Trump administration as it looks to prevent another resurgence of ISIS, while balancing U.S. relations with Turkey, which is further expected to exercise outsized influence over the new Syrian government.
“We continue to monitor the situation in Syria,” Brian Hughes, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson said in response to questions from Fox News Digital. “President Trump is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.”
World
Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital director pleads for help before it’s ‘too late’
Israel orders emptying of medical facility with nearly 400 civilians inside, including babies who need oxygen and incubators.
The director of one of Gaza’s last partially functioning hospitals is appealing for help, saying Israeli forces have surrounded the medical facility.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, on Monday urged the international community to act “before it is too late”, calling the situation “horrifying”.
He said obeying an Israeli order to empty the facility would be “next to impossible” because nearly 400 civilians remain inside, including babies who need oxygen and incubators.
“The bombing continues from all directions, affecting the building, the departments and the staff. This is a serious and extremely horrifying situation,” Abu Safia said.
Outside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, Israeli forces have placed what is thought to be explosives at the gates. Witnesses said an automated guided vehicle delivered boxes with the word “danger” written on them.
Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum said the Israeli military has deployed automated remote vehicles called “explosive robots” around the hospital.
“[The robots] are loaded with tonnes of explosives that can lead to the destruction of the neighbourhood,” Abu Azzoum said.
“We’ve seen videos released by some of the medical workers inside Kamal Adwan Hospital showing how the Israeli military has been using these in the vicinity of the hospital,” he added, saying it could be a sign that further escalation might take place in the coming days.
“The Israeli military is systematically trying to exert ultimate pressure on the medical teams by causing severe destruction to the surroundings [of the hospital],” Abu Azzoum said.
Abu Safia said: “The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace us,” adding that the Israeli bombing did not stop throughout Sunday night, destroying homes and surrounding buildings.
“We urge the international community to intervene quickly and stop this fierce assault on us to protect the healthcare system, the workers and the patients within it,” the hospital director said.
Since Monday morning, the hospital has been targeted with bombs in its courtyards and on its rooftop dropped by quadcopters, once again threatening the hospital’s fuel and oxygen supplies, he said.
“The situation remains extremely dangerous and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” the doctor said.
Abu Safia made a similar appeal on Sunday, accusing Israel of directly bombing the hospital’s intensive care unit.
More than 14 months of Israeli attacks have devastated Gaza and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million people. More than 45,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed in the offensive.
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians started shortly after a Hamas-led incursion inside Israeli territory on October 7, 2023 killed nearly 1,100 people, according to Israeli officials, and about 250 others were taken captive.
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