Fox News host Brian Kilmeade criticized President Joe Biden for returning home to Delaware while the Taliban regained control over Afghanistan.
Kilmeade argued on Thursday’s broadcast of “The Five” that the Biden administration’s attempts to pull out of Afghanistan represented “one of the ultimate embarrassments of my lifetime.” (RELATED: Months After US Troops Begin Leaving Afghanistan, Taliban Captures Yet Another Provincial Capital)
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Co-host Martha MacCallum began the segment with a report on the situation in Afghanistan, noting that 3,000 troops were on their way to ensure that the Americans still on the ground in the capital city of Kabul could be extracted safely.
“There are concerns that the Taliban could take over the capital of Kabul,” MacCallum said. “We are learning this afternoon that Kandahar, the second-largest city has fallen. Only Kabul is left. That’s where the U.S. Embassy is.”
“They are going in not to save Kabul but to get our people out. This is one of the ultimate embarrassments of my lifetime,” Kilmeade replied. “Where is the President of the United States? In Delaware.”
Kilmeade then pivoted to address Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, saying, “For General Austin to serve as long as he did and for him to do this and follow orders and not speak up is inexcusable.”
The “Fox & Friends” host went on to say that the fault did not lie with the Afghan security forces but with the Biden administration that left them “without any plan.”
“China is giggling. We look as bad as the Russians when they ran for the hills in the 1980s,” Kilmeade added.
Co-host Greg Gutfeld jumped in, arguing that the U.S. should have been out of Afghanistan long ago and that if a “presence” was needed, that presence “could be technology.”
“It’s a national security interest for the United States of America to have a presence in that area and have eyes on the ground and get there quickly,” MacCallum cut in. “Now China and Russia are filling that void. China is watching what is happening.”
The co-hosts all began talking over each other as the debate heated up, with some arguing that the U.S. had been a stabilizing presence in the region and others arguing that American troops should have been pulled from Afghanistan long ago.
“With the 20th anniversary of 9-11 coming up how long do we wait before a terrorist group regroups in that area and attacks the United States?” co-host Dagen McDowell ended the conversation with a question.