The darkest day of Joe Biden’s presidency

The two suicide attacks killed 13 American soldiers and left 14 injured, in addition to the line of Afghan civilians: at least 60 dead and 143 injured. It is the incident that has claimed the most American victims in Afghanistan since 2011. And the American armed forces had not claimed victims in Afghanistan for 115 days.

It was the most devastating moment of Biden’s young presidency. After the attack, US officials they stood firm that they would conclude the evacuation mission, raising further questions about Biden’s handling of the end of America’s longest war.

For White House staff, Thursday was one of the most emotional and frantic days since Biden took office on January 20. As the first reports of explosions arrived around Kabul, officials were faced with a deluge of information, prompting senior officials to remind staff members to separate fact from speculation and rumor. During a staff meeting, sniffles were heard when several officials held back their tears when they learned of the deaths Americans, according to a person familiar with the situation. A White House official described the pace of the day’s events as overwhelming.

Own Biden locked himself with his National Security Team for hours in the Situation Room and the Oval Office. I was in the latter, receiving information around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, when the phrase “Where’s Joe Biden?” Started to be a trend on Twitter.

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Care for the wounded in Kabul. There were at least 143 Afghan civilians injured by the two blasts, in addition to 60 dead.

In collaboration with the Secretary of State, Antoine Blink, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley the chairman received continuous updates on the situation throughout the day. The vice president Kamala Harris, who travels in Asia, was linked by Zoom to the situation room to attend the president’s morning meeting with his national security team. Later, one of his main advisers announced that the Vice President to Cancel Plan to Stop in California linked to the campaign and this he would go straight back to Washington.

Read more: Biden: “We won’t forgive, we won’t forget, we’re going to hunt them down and make them pay”

Although Politico.com avoids saying so, both Biden and Harris and Blinken have suffered a real blow to the image, which has already occurred since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15. The event revealed that Biden and Blinken’s optimistic claims that the Afghan regular army could push back the Taliban were utterly misleading. On this already black box of Biden’s presidency took place the Kabul massacre. A hammer blow on an already beaten opponent.

The White House was also in constant contact with Afghan commanders on the ground, according to an official, as it analyzed the impact of the deadly attacks on the president’s August 31 withdrawal deadline.

This Thursday evening, Biden gave a speech that was sometimes dark and tearful, sometimes calm and thoughtful. It paid tribute to the American soldiers killed in action and conveyed two main objectives: complete the mission to evacuate all Americans who want to leave and as many allies as possible on time and reprisals against those responsible for the attacks. “We will not forgive. We will not forget.”Biden proclaimed. “We are going to hunt them down and make them pay.”

read more: The Afghan branch of the Islamic State

Press Officer Jen Psaki and other press officials, who were to inform the press, they postponed their briefing, concluding that the best way to communicate about the current crisis was to bring in front-line experts and agencies. The Pentagon has provided an updated casualty count, and Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie., commander of the central command, spoke directly to journalists in the early afternoon. Biden spoke after him. He grabbed a black information book as he answered questions, sometimes appearing to blush, holding back the tears of others. and, when he answered the last question from the press, resting his chin on the microphones. At one point, he told members of the press – who were jumping out of their seats to ask questions – that had “another meeting, really”.

Throughout the day, efforts were made to try to identify and evacuate the remaining Americans in Kabul. Psaki’s assistant, Amanda Finney he ran a large spreadsheet of the people they were still trying to help evacuate. A green mark marked those who had left. Those evacuation numbers had brought some optimism to the White House amid the grim news streaming in from Kabul. Had has helped airlift more than 100,000 people out of Afghanistan since the end of July, a historic operation for which aides thought they deserved more credit. After Thursday’s attacks, officials said evacuation efforts would continue.

The loss of military personnel had been the exact scenario Biden had desperately wanted to avoid trying to end the war in Afghanistan. His government had warned for days of the imminent threat of terrorist attacks. Earlier this week, lawmakers were told in detail about the possibility of an Isis-K attack. The U.S. Embassy issued a warning on Wednesday to the Americans therefore avoid traveling to the airport or meet near the gates of it.

As word of the slain servicemen spread, Biden confidants said the president felt the impact on a personal level. As vice president, Biden had worked closely with military families.

The President has repeatedly referred to his relationship with the families of the military after the service of his deceased hijo, Beau and Iraq. Thusday, Biden mentioned Beau again, tell families that today they have lost someone in battle who understood their intense pain. But it should be clarified that Beau did not die in combat or in service, but many years later from a brain tumor.