Ryan Crocker, who served as U.S. Ambassador to six different countries over the span of a career that lasted four decades in the Foreign Service, slammed Democrat President Joe Biden during an interview over the weekend over the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan.
Crocker, who came out of retirement to serve in the Obama administration as America’s top diplomat in Kabul, told The Spokesman-Review that he has serious concerns about Biden’s ability to lead the country moving forward.
“I’m left with some grave questions in my mind about his ability to lead our nation as commander-in-chief,” Crocker said. “To have read this so wrong – or, even worse, to have understood what was likely to happen and not care.”
Crocker said that the way that events unfolded give the Taliban the narrative that they so desperately crave: that they defeated the world’s preeminent superpower.
“We’re going to pay for that for a long time to come, and that’s why it is insane – just idiotic – to think that we can tell the Taliban that if they don’t stop taking over territory and play nice, the international community will withhold recognition and support,” he said. “The Taliban really doesn’t care, because they’ve got something far more valuable.”
Crocker said that U.S. intelligence agencies will be less able to track Islamic terrorists, which comes as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told U.S. senators on Sunday that the timeline has accelerated in terms of how quickly Islamic terrorist groups are able to regroup and continue operations out of Afghanistan.
“We have seen this movie before,” Crocker said. “This would be the Taliban of the 1990s that gave safe haven to al-Qaida, except they’re meaner and tougher than they were then because of what they’ve been through.”
“I’m afraid a lot of people are going to die,” Crocker said about those still trapped in the country. “As the Taliban moves into different cities and towns, they’ve got their hit list. So it’s going to be messy, it’s going to be incomplete and more people are going to die, but we’ve got to make our best possible effort.”
Biden has come under intense scrutiny over the entire ordeal with former White House physician Ronny Jackson, who served in the role under both Presidents Obama and Trump, demanding that Biden either get out in front of the cameras to address the nation or resign.
“OUTRAGEOUS!” Jackson said on Biden’s hiding from the American public. “Biden needs to address the nation TONIGHT. If he’s not mentally capable of handling this crisis, he needs to resign IMMEDIATELY. America deserves better than this – OUR VETERANS DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS! Come out of hiding at Camp David and do your damn job!”
Former President Donald Trump slammed Biden on Saturday over the situation, calling it a “disgrace,” and then demanded he resign on Sunday.
“What Joe Biden has done with Afghanistan is legendary. It will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history!” Trump said. “It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan, along with the tremendous surge in COVID, the Border catastrophe, the destruction of energy independence, and our crippled economy.”