Buttigieg Comments On Report
Kamala Harris can’t seem to shake her role in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, even though her team is working overtime to downplay it now that she’s running for president.
Back in 2021, she proudly proclaimed she was “the last person in the room” when Joe Biden made the fateful decision to pull out of Afghanistan, which led to the chaotic, deadly exit we all watched unfold. But now that it’s campaign season, it seems Harris and her surrogates are trying to distance themselves from that, acting like she wasn’t really the “border czar” or didn’t have much influence in major decisions like Afghanistan.
Enter Pete Buttigieg, the latest to step up and defend Harris’ record. He appeared on CNN’s *State of the Union* with Dana Bash to tackle the uncomfortable reality of the withdrawal, especially with the House Foreign Affairs Committee set to release its findings after a three-year investigation into what went wrong.
Pete Buttigieg dismisses accountability over the botched Harris-Biden Afghanistan withdrawal — which killed 13 U.S. service members — as a "political football."
Kamala bragged about being the last person in the room for the disastrous decision. pic.twitter.com/LMreDATjSp
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 8, 2024
Bash didn’t pull any punches, reminding Buttigieg of Harris’s involvement and asking how she plans to defend her role. Buttigieg, in typical fashion, launched into a wordy defense that was long on fluff but short on substance. His main argument? He hasn’t seen the report, but questioned the timing of its release, implying it’s more of a political move than anything else.
Now, let’s be clear—investigating the loss of 13 U.S. servicemembers and the broader failure in Afghanistan isn’t playing politics. It’s about accountability, something Buttigieg seemed to brush off with vague comments about ending “America’s longest war” and focusing on what’s next.
But as Bash pointed out, this was a huge political problem for the Biden administration, and Harris was front and center when that decision was made.
Yet, when pressed, Buttigieg rambled on without really addressing how Harris plans to answer for the debacle. Instead, he pivoted to a broader critique of Trump and potential future threats like China and Russia. The issue? It didn’t answer the question about Harris’s accountability as VP when things went south in Afghanistan.
If this is the kind of leadership we can expect from Harris, should she ever get the top job, it’s not looking good. Lots of talk, very little action, and an inability to own up to the mistakes made under her watch.