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Joe Biden

Book claims Biden ‘exploded’ as Afghanistan collapsed

during his vacation: ‘Give me a break’
Franklin Foer's 'The Last Politician' details Biden's first 2 years, including chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
By Andrew Murray Thomas Phippen
, Fox News

Published September 3, 2023 4:57pm EDT

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President Biden had an explosive reaction when he was told the president of Afghanistan
had fled Kabul ahead of the Taliban's takeover of the city in 2021, according to a new
book.

On Friday, Aug. 12, 2021, Biden left D.C. for what was expected to be a mid-August
vacation to Camp David. Three days later, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told him
the news that the then-president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, had fled as the Taliban was
,

poised to march into the capital.

"Biden exploded in frustration" when he heard the news and exclaimed, "Give me a break!"
according to the forthcoming book "The Last Politician" by journalist Franklin Foer, which
describes the inner workings at the White House during the calamitous withdrawal from
Afghanistan in 2021.

GOLD STAR FAMILIES SLAM BIDEN ADMIN OVER CHAOTIC AFGHANISTAN

WITHDRAWAL AS MILLEY VOWS ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’

Taliban fighters display their flag while on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo / Rahmat Gul)

Biden wasn't the only one on vacation when Ghani escaped and it became clear to the
world that the American withdrawal from Afghanistan would be far more chaotic than the
administration expected.

The Biden White House had expected a gradual handover of responsibility to the Afghan
government until Aug. 31, 2021, when the Taliban would begin to take an active role in
governing the country. Instead, the Taliban rapidly took over territories as the U.S. moved
out of various bases and were marching on Afghanistan before Ghani fled, fearing for his
life.

However, in the first weeks of August 2021, multiple high-ranking White House officials left
for vacation. Biden went to Camp David. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the
Hamptons. And then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki took her family to the beach.

MCCAUL DEMANDS MORE INTERVIEWS WITH BIDEN OFFICIALS ON 'CHAOTIC AND

DEADLY' AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

President Biden had an explosive reaction when he was told the president of Afghanistan had fled Kabul ahead of the
Taliban's takeover of the city in 2021, according to a new book. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci / File)

On Aug. 16, 2021 — the day after Ghani fled Kabul — a U.S. C-17 military transport aircraft
filled with evacuees took off from then-Hamid Karzai International Airport, but some
people on the crowded runway grabbed on to the landing gear in a desperate attempt to
escape as the plane took off.

BIDEN MARKS 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF BOTCHED AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL, TOUTS IT AS

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Upon seeing the "images of Afghans falling from the sky," which became some of the
most dramatic scenes of the evacuation, Psaki knew she had to leave her family vacation,
Foer wrote.

Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing on Aug. 24, 2021. (Drew Angerer / Getty
Images)

According to Foer, Psaki wrote to then-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain: "I’m
contemplating coming back," and Klain responded: "I'm sorry. I think you need to."

Foer's book notes that Biden took an active interest in the evacuation, throwing out ideas
to get more people on planes and out of the country and asking to be updated when
individual people had made it safely out of the Afghanistan.

The Biden administration evacuated more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan as the
country collapsed under Taliban pressure. However, that "improvised feat of logistics"
failed to overcome the impression that the Biden administration was reacting slowly, Foer
wrote.

The White House was "stung" by the fact that the toughest criticism was not just coming
conservative media but also from "the columnists and venerable reporters that Biden's
inner circle respected and tended to heed," Foer's book states.

Foer writes that "[i]n the thick of the crisis, Biden didn't have time to voraciously consume
the news, but he was well aware of the tough coverage. ‘We’re getting killed,' he would
admit. It frustrated him to no end."

However, the criticism did nothing to change Biden's mind about leaving Afghanistan nor
change his detestation for "the conventional wisdom of the foreign policy elites," Foer
said. "After defying their delusional predictions of progress for so long, [Biden] wasn't
going to back down now."

"In fact, everything he’d witnessed from his seat in the Situation Room confirmed his belief
that exiting a war without hope was the best and only course," Foer writes.

Foer's book recounts the first two years of Biden's presidency from his inauguration
through the 2022 midterm elections. The book is to be released Tuesday by Penguin
Random House.

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