Biden optics warfare

 Washington Examiner:

Ten days away from the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, President Joe Biden faces new questions about how he will fight terrorism after a speedy exit from Afghanistan — just in time for what critics have deemed a “photo op.”

In remarks on Tuesday, Biden said counterterrorism missions to protect the homeland will continue, as well as hunting down Islamic State terrorists and promoting human rights.

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Florida Rep. Brian Mast, a decorated Army veteran of the Afghanistan War, said Biden’s rush to meet a symbolic date calls into question the president’s ability to combat future threats.

“President Biden’s goal has always been a celebration on the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11. It was always about optics, never about meeting the strategic objectives of ensuring the well-being of our troops and allies or of a safer America,” Mast, a Republican and bomb disposal expert who lost both legs to a roadside bomb, told the Washington Examiner. “As long as the photo op remains his top priority, our nation is going to face serious and persistent terrorist threats without a commander in chief who is able to counter them.”

Biden’s shift to “vigilance via airstrike” is rooted in dated security notions, according to counterterrorism expert Jason Killmeyer. Relying on long-range missions is “1990s thinking, and it’s not sustainable in the long term,” he said.

Killmeyer questioned how Biden could provide assurances that Americans “can trust the new riskier calculus of over-the-horizon” strikes, given the failure last week to prevent a terrorist attack at the Kabul international airport.

Despite concerns from commanders in Kabul last week who warned of an imminent threat and pushed to close the airport’s Abbey Gate, the move to do so was delayed to aid British allies, according to a Politico report. At 6 p.m., hours before the planned closure, an ISIS-K suicide attack killed 13 service members and scores of Afghans.

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The optics of body bags and flag-draped coffins were not what he had in mind but they were a result of his arbitrary departure schedule and his poor tactical decision to move the evacuation from Bagram to Kabul and a less defensible perimeter.  It is shame that none of the Joint Chiefs balked at this disastrous decision.  Anyone relying on Biden's military decision-making is asking for disasters.