As of the writing of this piece, there were reports that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country, leaving the capital city of Kabul to advancing Taliban fighters with no military resistance and Americans still scrambling to get out. But back in April, the liberal broadcast networks were tripping over themselves to laud President Biden’s decision to do away with former President Trump’s conditions-based withdrawal plan and hastily pull out, leaving American military assets to be captured.
As NewsBusters reported back on April 13, CBS Evening News celebrated Biden’s decision. “Breaking news: Leaving Afghanistan, President Biden to announce an end to America's longest war, pulling all U.S. troops out by the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks,” announced anchor, Norah O’Donnell.
“Mr. Biden had recently hinted that he would make this move, frustrated with a war that is now in its third decade,” boasted senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang. “The Trump administration made a deal to withdraw the 3,300 troops currently there by May 1, but the President thought that was too soon.”
Over on ABC’s World News Tonight, chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz was excited that Biden was pulling American troops out of Afghanistan after 20 years of war. “It will be 20 years in October since the U.S. launched those first airstrikes on Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan. And tomorrow, President Biden will announce the 2,500 U.S. troops still there will be home by the 9/11 anniversary,” she said.
And she didn’t seem to have an issue with Trump’s original deadline, adding: “President Trump had hoped to bring all the troops home by the start of next month, after a tenuous agreement with the Taliban, but some military and civilian officials pushed for a few months longer. More than 2,400 American lives have been lost in the war, along with more than 40,000 civilians.”
Although, anchor David Muir still had his own questions. “Do we risk it becoming a safe haven for terrorists again? Do we risk those gains for women and girls? Can the U.S. trust the Taliban to work with the Afghan government?” But only recently, did we see those concerns being taken seriously as the Taliban launched a blitz across the country and the Afghan military folded.
As for NBC’s part, Nightly News had anchor Lester Holt tout Biden for moving the withdrawal date back to the symbolic date of September 11. “It's America's longest war, and tonight it appears U.S. troops are about to head home from Afghanistan, but not by the May 1 deadline that former President Trump had set. Instead, President Biden is set to announce he'll keep U.S. troops there until September 11,” he said.
NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent and Democratic Party fan girl, Andrea Mitchell ended her report by seemingly suggesting that the hasty withdrawal was fine because America had been there long enough:
Congressional reaction is mixed because the U.S. Will be leaving without a Taliban peace deal or guarantees to protect the rights of women. But a senior official says the president believes waiting for that is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever.
Clearly, the networks thought something terrible could possibly happen. But they were too busy asking Biden about what flavor ice cream he was eating. It was chocolate chocolate chip, by the way.
