President Biden struggled to recover his shaken leadership at home and abroad Tuesday, rejecting calls from allies and lawmakers to extend next week’s deadline for evacuating Afghanistan as an emboldened Taliban made fresh demands for a U.S. exit.
Mr. Biden told heads of state of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations in a virtual meeting that he wouldn’t prolong the massive airlift of Westerners and Afghans, plus the withdrawal of U.S. troops, beyond his stated deadline of Aug. 31.
He asked the Pentagon to draw up a Plan B in case the sometimes chaotic and dangerous operation in Kabul encounters further problems, such as attacks by the Islamic State Khorasan or other extremists.
“It’s a tenuous situation,” Mr. Biden said in a televised address. “We run a serious risk of it breaking down as time goes on.”
The president said the operation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, likely the largest withdrawal of noncombatants since the fall of Saigon in 1975, has airlifted 70,700 people from Kabul since Aug. 14.
With the administration unable to give an accounting of Americans still in Kabul, Republicans accused Mr. Biden of rolling over to the Taliban, whose leaders said Tuesday that their “red line” for the U.S. withdrawal also is Aug. 31.
“Letting the Taliban dictate our military strategy is an absolute disgrace,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican. “We have a commitment to every American and Afghan ally to get them out safely. No one should be left behind because of an arbitrary, self-imposed deadline based on a campaign promise. When it comes to getting our citizens out, the American people won’t tolerate asking the Taliban for permission.”
In a private classified briefing, Democratic lawmakers pressed the administration to extend the cutoff date. They said the mission of removing all Americans shouldn’t be subject to an arbitrary deadline.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said it was “highly unlikely” that the administration could meet Mr. Biden’s evacuation deadline.
The president insisted that the operation is “on a pace” to be completed by Aug. 31. He didn’t say who would be evacuated.
Mr. Biden said Secretary of State Antony Blinken will update the public Wednesday about the number of Americans still in Afghanistan.
“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Mr. Biden said. “Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops, but the completion by Aug. 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport.”
The Taliban, who control access to the airport in Kabul, dictated more terms to the U.S. They said they wouldn’t allow any more Afghans to leave the country regardless of the deadline. The decision heightened concerns for women and for Afghan translators who worked with the U.S. military.
Another indication that the administration was scrambling was White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s general offer on live TV to help Americans trapped in Kabul.
“If any of you are hearing from American citizens who can’t reach us, give me their contact information, and we will get in contact with them,” she told reporters at her briefing.
As the international crisis deepened, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, salvaged Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda in Congress, at least for now. She reined in vulnerable party members by striking a deal to vote on the administration’s two infrastructure packages, totaling about $4.5 trillion.
Democrats then pushed through a budget resolution authorizing the larger, $3.5 trillion “social safety net” package in a party-line vote. Mrs. Pelosi called it “a great day of pride for our country and for Democrats.”
Mr. Biden worked behind the scenes to get Democrats on board.
“We are a step closer to truly investing in the American people, positioning our economy for long-term growth and building an America that outcompetes the rest of the world,” the president said.
Republican leaders objected to the Democrats’ priorities during the debacle in Afghanistan.
“It’s really disgraceful that Speaker Pelosi, this week, brought us back to raise taxes on Americans here at home rather than to help come up with a strategy to rescue Americans that President Biden abandoned in Afghanistan,” said House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican. “That’s what we should be doing here.”
As the crisis in Afghanistan dominates news coverage, Mr. Biden’s job approval rating is slipping.
A USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released Tuesday showed that 41% of voters approve of Mr. Biden’s performance and 55% disapprove.
“Today, President Biden’s overall approval has taken a turn for the worse due to his awful job performance rating on Afghanistan,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “His approval on immigration and the economy are also upside down. The only issue keeping him remotely in the game is his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he is barely at 50%.”
A University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday found that Mr. Biden’s approval rating in that state dropped 6 percentage points in one month, to 44%, and 70% of voters blamed the president “a lot” or “some” for the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
Even in quarters friendly to Mr. Biden, the administration’s glaring failure was palpable.
“How can the Taliban be calling the shots?” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked on the air.
In the G-7 meeting, the president raised concerns that the troops he sent back to Afghanistan to speed the evacuation could become targets for terrorists. The White House said Mr. Biden “made clear that with each day of operations on the ground, we have added risk to our troops with increasing threats from ISIS-K, and that completion of the mission by August 31st depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport.”
ISIS-K, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Khorasan Province, is the branch of the militants operating in the South Asia and Central Asia region, which includes Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who chaired the G-7 meeting, said the allies “committed to work together on the immediate evacuation effort to ensure this continues safely.”
“We also agreed we must have a shared road map for engaging with the Taliban that aims to preserve the progress of the last 20 years,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said the president “needs to forget about the Aug. 31 deadline.”
“The Taliban should not be allowed to tell us how long we are there to get our personnel out,” he said on Fox News. “That’s our decision, not theirs. They can cooperate if they want to. If they don’t, we have to do what is necessary to get our people out.”
• Seth McLaughlin and Haris Alic contributed to this report.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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