#A clueless Biden declares Afghan mission ‘extraordinary success’

Exactly 24 hours after the last US military transport plane departed Kabul, leaving hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies at the mercy of terrorists who’ve never shown any, President Joe Biden declared the mission an “extraordinary success.”

What a slap in the face to the families of the 13 American service members and hundreds of civilians who died last week when the Taliban let a suicide bomber through their checkpoints outside the Kabul airport.

Clearly angry that any dare criticize him, Biden showed no remorse, admitted no real responsibility. Instead, he resorted to the same tired talking points and weird non sequiturs he’s trotted out for two weeks to explain once again why he had no regrets about his “wise decision.”

“No nation has ever done anything like it in all of history,” Biden bragged, focusing on those who got out while throwing shade on those left behind. “Ninety percent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to by the deadline. For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline.” As long as the Taliban never find them, anyway.

Biden cited Americans “who had decided earlier to stay” but “now wanted to leave” — not mentioning he’d confidently told them there was no chance of a Taliban takeover, despite the intelligence he saw to the contrary. He complained of the Afghan government “handing over the country to their enemy, the Taliban, and significantly increasing the risk to US personnel and our allies” — not mentioning that US forces bolted Bagram in the dead of night. Way to build Afghan morale!

In short, he implied that those left behind have only themselves to blame. Oh, and President Donald Trump, who tied Biden’s hands, he claimed — though the current president then declared proudly, “I made a decision to end this war,” saying it fulfilled his campaign promise.

Denial ran deep: “Couldn’t this have been done in a more orderly manner? I respectfully disagree,” Biden said. “There still would have been a rush to the airport” had the evacuation started in June or July.

Perhaps. But that airport wouldn’t have been surrounded by Taliban checkpoints in a Taliban-controlled city. The terrorists turned away some people with permission to go — but passed through a man intent on mass murder.

Now, for all the president’s talk of “over the horizon” capability against ISIS and other terrorists, we’ll have almost no intelligence from Afghanistan to direct such fire. Nor have any base at all in central Asia, a hotbed of terrorism and a stepping stone further East.

Biden insisted the only choice, the “real choice,” was “between leaving or escalating.” Either America left in ignominy or we’d have to “send in thousands of more troops and escalate the war.”

After the fact, he simply can’t imagine a withdrawal with honor that left no American behind. So he insists a mad disaster wrought by his own decisions is an “extraordinary success.”

His next triumph, apparently, will be bribing the Taliban to release its de facto hostages, the people Biden just last week said wouldn’t be left behind. That’s the real meaning of the “humanitarian aid” he says Secretary of State Antony Blinken will offer in his “new diplomatic mission.”

The Afghan evacuation is over but not the Afghan debacle.