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By Jasmine Wright, CNN
Vice President Kamala Harris, embarking on a suddenly high-stakes visit to Southeast Asia this week amid the first major foreign policy crisis of the Biden administration, was at the reception of questions Monday on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan for the first time since the chaotic fall of Kabul.
Harris’s stopovers in Singapore and Vietnam assumed disproportionate importance for their potential to reassure foreign leaders of the United States’ continued commitment to its allies. Especially in Vietnam where Harris is heading on Tuesday – as images of the fall of Saigon in 1975 have drawn comparisons to evacuations in Kabul – the vice president will work to stay focused on Asia, a region President Joe Biden wants to prioritize as he ends the conflicts of the 9/11 era.
Yet on Monday, reporters teleported to a monitor from another room to pepper Harris during the tumultuous exit from Afghanistan as she stood alongside Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon at a press conference joint after their first bilateral meeting, offering a first glimpse of how the Vice President is approaching the ongoing crisis.
“There is no doubt that there will be, and should be, a solid analysis of what happened,” said Harris, while avoiding responding if she was personally satisfied with the operational steps taken during the withdrawal. American. Officials have separated journalists traveling with the vice president from politicians due to Singapore’s Covid-19 restrictions.
Harris said in April that she was among the last advisers Biden consulted before making his decision to end the war in Afghanistan, and she joined the multitude of briefings he has received on the matter at over the past week. His advisers had been faced with questions before his trip as to whether the tumultuous end of the 20 years war would undermine its message to Asian leaders about America’s commitments abroad.
There had already been a few questions about Biden’s attention to Southeast Asia; he has not spoken directly to a leader in the region since taking office. One of the reasons he ended the war in Afghanistan is his desire to focus on today’s issues, like countering the rise of China.
On Monday, even as Harris sought to project the administration’s emphasis on strengthening its influence in Asia, she still faced questions about the Afghan crisis.
“At the moment, we are particularly focused on the evacuation of American citizens, Afghans who have worked with us and vulnerable Afghans, including women and children,” added Harris. She also defended President Joe Biden, saying he had shown “great emotion” at the footage from Afghanistan.
Responding to the Afghan crisis on foreign soil is part of the daunting challenge facing Harris this week as she travels to Singapore and Vietnam, for the once low-risk travel to friendly countries comes at the same time as a chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Political experts, and even her own allies, say Harris faces increased pressure to fulfill two responsibilities largely unknown to her in her seven months in office: winning a foreign policy victory for a administration in crisis and embody Biden’s call to shift U.S. attention overseas to counter a rising China.
“It’s going to be a real sticking point for her to exude that America is here and that we are committed to the things that we say we are committed to,” a source close to Harris told CNN last week. .
Harris’ comments on Monday echoed Biden’s statements of previous days, saying the time for reflection and criticism would come later, as the focus remains on the dangerous mission to evacuate tens of thousands of people of the city now controlled by the Taliban. But that notion has not stopped the barrage of questions about the jurisdiction of the administration and who is to blame for the collapse of Kabul.
“The reason I’m here is because the United States is a world leader, and we take this role seriously, knowing that we have many interests and priorities around the world,” Harris said Monday. “I am here in Singapore to reaffirm our commitment to our membership in the Indo-Pacific region. “
Monday chords
Following Harris’ meeting with Lee, the White House announced several initiatives with the Singapore government aimed at “strengthening and deepening” government partnerships in Southeast Asia. The agreements focus on mitigating supply chain issues made worse by the pandemic, tackling cybersecurity threats, tackling climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harris and Lee will launch the US-Singapore supply chain dialogue, according to a backgrounder provided by his office, which would be a “high-level dialogue on strengthening cooperative efforts to promote greater resilience of the supply chain “. CNN reported on Friday that trade will be factored into the theme of global competition during the vice president’s trip, as the United States grapples with the global microchip shortage
On cybersecurity, the couple announced that they had finalized “three agreements that will expand cooperation in cybersecurity with regard to the financial sector, military-to-military engagement and regional capacity building”.
And the United States and Singapore say they will follow variants of Covid-19 more closely as well as partners in finding treatments, among other agreements on defense issues.
Subsequently, the vice president received a briefing from Singaporean defense officials on US-Singaporean defense relations at Changi Naval Base before addressing US sailors aboard the USS Tulsa.
She thanked the troops for their efforts in Afghanistan, as discussions are underway over whether to stay in Kabul beyond the August 31 deadline to leave the country so that U.S. troops can complete the effort. ‘evacuation.
“The men and women who served in Afghanistan – including some who are here today, and I’ve read about your service – and those who serve there right now, I just want to say that we are all grateful to the men and women in the uniform and the embassy staff in the field who provide security to the Americans and Afghans who have worked alongside us and other Afghans in danger, ”said Harris.
“And they are carrying out this mission in an incredibly difficult and dangerous environment, and the President and I are grateful for their service.”
Harris then returned to the task at hand, deepening relations in the Indo-Pacific, an area she called “critical” to the security of the United States.
Biden has focused his domestic economic policy agenda on strengthening the country’s infrastructure and manufacturing capacity to compete with China, making it no secret that he intends to fight the battles for the next 20 years. Instead of the last, part of his reason for withdrawing from Afghanistan.
“At the same time, other missions are continuing all over the world. So you are all here in Singapore – and Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific – with a mission of your own, a mission vital to the American people, ”Harris told American sailors after visiting the combat ship USS Tulsa. “The Indo-Pacific is essential to the security and prosperity of the United States. “
The vice president is due to speak in Singapore on Tuesday outlining the administration’s vision for the region, said a White House official, focusing on security, economic partnerships and global health.
“The Vice-President will be discussing a topic that she has already discussed on several occasions – she believes we are entering a new era. Our world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever, so the only way forward is together, ”the official said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Sophie Jeong, Chandler Thornton and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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