U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Says Afghanistan Mission ‘Successful.’ Rejects Kabul-Saigon Comparison

 

Daily Mail: Antony Blinken rejects comparison of Afghanistan to Saigon and blames 'inability of Afghan security forces' for Taliban takeover as Republicans say the buck stops with Biden 

* Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected on Sunday any comparisons between the swift evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan to the fall of Saigon 

* 'Let's take a step back. This is manifestly not Saigon,' Blinken insisted when pushed on the disorderly evacuation of U.S. personnel from Kabul by helicopter 

* Blinken said 'the inability of Afghan security forces to defend their country has played a very powerful role in what we've seen over the last few weeks' 

* But Republicans say Biden has the onus for the Taliban take over 

* Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday 'the Biden administration has failed in the execution on its own plan' 

* 'This President confronted a challenge in Afghanistan – he has utterly failed to protect the American people from this challenge,' he said 

* Biden blamed predecessor Trump for the Taliban's swift seize of Afghanistan 

* 'When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor... that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001,' he wrote in a statement 

* Trump fired back by claiming Biden made the Taliban not fear America's power 

* 'Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues,' he wrote. 'Everyone knew he couldn't handle the pressure' 

* Taliban's Islamic militant forces reached Capital City of Kabul on Sunday 

* Biden is sending U.S. 5,000 troops to help with the evacuation of Americans and ally personnel still in Afghanistan 

Antony Blinken insisted Sunday the scene in Afghanistan is not comparable to the fall of Saigon as he diverted blame for the Taliban take over on Trump, Republicans and Afghan security forces. 

The Secretary of State said the images emerging from Afghanistan, including personnel being airlifted out of the embassy in Kabul, is 'standard operating procedure'. 

'This is being done in a very deliberate way. It's being done in an orderly way. 

And it's being done with American forces there to make sure we can do it in a safe way,' he said in an interview with ABC News' This Week on Sunday morning.  

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Update #1: Blinken says Afghanistan mission ‘successful,’ rejects Kabul-Saigon comparison (AFP)  

Update #2: US' Antony Blinken Says Afghanistan Mission 'successful', Rejects Comparison With Saigon (Republic World)  

WNU Editor: Three interviews on three Biden friendly networks and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken still looked like a deer staring with wide open eyes at the headlights of an approaching car while repeating a bunch of talking points.

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