Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer on Friday argued for a withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying President Joe Biden's “amnesia” led to his “biggest mistake.”
Fleischer appeared on “Hannity” and spoke about his concerns about Biden's growing political troubles as the 2024 presidential election approaches. The Fox News host asked Fleischer how he was analyzing the upcoming election campaign, and Fleischer said America needed both a “strong” leader and a “sharp” leader. (Related: Biden administration partially withdraws purchase of U.S. materials for rural internet deployment)
Fleischer accused Biden of withdrawing from Afghanistan in August 2021, which led to the deaths of 13 Americans in terrorist attacks. He criticized the president for recanting what he had been briefed on about the withdrawal and pointed out why his memories led to the “fatal” incident.
“What we need is not just a strong leader, but a sharp leader. And the biggest mistake he made, Sean, was to show you that painful series. It's painful to watch. But Joe Biden's biggest mistake in living memory resulted in the death of an American. And at the time, he said no one in the military told him he had the option of leaving a small force of about 2,500 people in Afghanistan. Fleischer said no one gave him that option, which was later contradicted by the military, with Gen. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying, “Indeed, the president said he would leave 2,500 people.'' “I received an explanation about this,” he said. .
“He didn't remember his policy briefings and pulled everyone out of Afghanistan because he thought he had no other choice. This is why it's deadly. And the president's job is the best on earth. It's a difficult job. Even as a young man, it wears you down and exhausts you. And 1708771382 We have old people doing the work of young people. This is Joe Biden's problem. Being careless or forgetting a name is bad, but it doesn't have a huge impact. It's amnesia. This is a problem when you have a president who doesn't remember the briefings he received. ”
In mid-August 2021, Biden repeatedly denied that he had been briefed by military leaders warning him not to withdraw from Afghanistan, forcing his administration to issue conflicting messages on the issue. But Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley later testified that they supported keeping 2,500 troops in the country, directly contradicting Biden's claims.
