As Biden repeats claim that ‘nobody could have known’ Afghan Army would collapse, bombshell transcript from July reveals he pressured Afghan President Ghani to create ‘perception’ Taliban wasn’t winning ‘WHETHER IT’S TRUE OR NOT’

• • Reuters on Tuesday released excerpts from last call between Biden and Ghani before the Afghan president fled
  • They talked for about 14 minutes on July 23 as the Taliban advanced rapidly
  • Biden told his counterpart of a perception that the fight against the Taliban was not going well
  • ‘There is a need, whether it is true or not … to project a different picture,’ he said
  • Comments are indication Biden knew it was matter of time before Taliban won
  • In months leading up to withdrawal, Biden predicted pullout would go smoothly
  • Neither appeared to realize just how badly things would go
  • Less than four weeks later the Taliban had captured Kabul

“…President Joe Biden wanted the now-departed Afghan president to create the ‘perception’ that his government was capable of holding off the Taliban – an indication he knew it was only a matter of time before the US ally fell to the Islamic group even while reassuring Americans at home that it would not happen.

In the last phone call between Biden and his Afghan then-counterpart Ashraf Ghani, the American president said they needed to change perceptions of the Taliban‘s rapid advance ‘whether it is true or not,’ according to excerpts published on Tuesday.

The call took place on July 23 – weeks before the fall of Kabul – but Biden on Tuesday repeated his assertion that his team was caught flat-footed by the rapid Taliban takeover of the country…”

I am so old I can remember when President Trump was impeached for a second time over a phone call with a foreign leader and that was a lot less onerous than this. Of course, Biden is a Democrat, so…

Related:

Nothing to see here: Psaki REFUSES to discuss Joe’s leaked call with ex-Afghanistan President that reveals Biden KNEW Afghan army was collapsing, because it was ‘private’

• • ‘The content of the reporting is consistent with what we have said many times publicly,’ Psaki told reporters Wednesday
  • Biden focused much of his last  call with Ghani on his ‘perception problem’ in the fight against the Taliban
  • ‘Changing perception’ is political spin, not a national security strategy,’ Rep. Jody Hice said
  • Biden pressed Ghani to bring together the government’s most prominent figures for a press conference. ‘That will change perception’
  • Biden said the US would provide aid if Ghani could project to the world that he ‘had a plan’ for fighting the Taliban
  • Republicans have called for Biden’s impeachment over Afghanistan, but Mitch McConnell on Tuesday threw cold water on the idea