Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume said Monday that President Joe Biden is responsible for the “hideously botched” U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“He inherited a drawn-down force about to be removed from Afghanistan,” Hume told Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“His job was to remove it safely and effectively, right? And the consequences of his decision making about how to do that was what we saw today and yesterday. This is on him. This piece of it is on him,” Hume continued. (RELATED: ‘Failed Leadership’: Erik Prince Says Victory In Afghanistan ‘Pissed Away By Half-Baked Politicians In Washington’)
“This question, this issue is all about how you execute the final pullout and this was unmistakably hideously botched,” Hume went on, adding that political planners clearly did not “have a handle on this.”
The veteran journalist also called the withdrawal “a stain on Joe Biden” and “a disaster” that was “horribly planned.”
The images of the the terrified Afghanis on the airport tarmac will be “stamped in people’s minds” and “the best thing” that Biden can anticipate is that little news will escape from Afghanistan once the Taliban consolidate their control and begin to commit atrocities and resume “the subjugation of women,” Hume said.
Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson quipped that “It’s possible they will make their people wear masks and cover their faces.”
Hume agreed that the burka will undoubtedly return and noted that the nation building mission of the U.S. in Afghanistan faded years ago. “Nothing we are doing there is nation building. How are you going to nation build with 2500 troops for God’s sake?” (RELATED: Afghanistan President Blames US Troop Withdrawal For Worsening Security Amid Taliban Gains)
Hume took issue with Biden for dismissing the Afghan forces, noting “they lost tens of thousands of soldiers killed fighting the Taliban.”
Taliban fighters stand guard in a vehicle along the roadside in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)
The Taliban wrested control of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday after the Afghan army collapsed and the nation’s president fled. Afghanis fearing they will be targeted by the Taliban clung to a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft in hopes of being airlifted out of the country.
The Biden administration insisted that Afghanistan could defend itself against the Taliban without U.S. assistance. “Ultimately, the Afghan National Security Defense Forces have the equipment, numbers, and training to fight back,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a White House press briefing Aug. 11. “They have what they need. What they need to determine is if they have the political will to fight back, and if they have the ability to unite … as leaders to fight back. And that’s really where it stands at this point.”