The Associated Press reports that Biden was unpleasantly surprised by the speed with which the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan
According to AP reporters, President Joe Biden and other senior US officials were stunned Sunday by the pace of the Taliban’s near-total takeover of Afghanistan, which has turned a planned withdrawal of US troops into a safe evacuation mission.
“The rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the chaos that followed was the most severe test for Biden as commander-in-chief, and he was the subject of sharp criticism from Republicans who said he had failed”, – the publication notes.
It is noted that US administration officials acknowledged on Sunday that they had been caught off guard by the precipitous failure of the Afghan security forces.
“We knew these forces wouldn’t be able to protect the country, but it happened faster than we expected”, – Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN, referring to the Afghan military.