Former ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann slammed President Joe Biden during a Thursday segment on MSNBC for saying that chaos in Afghanistan was inevitable.
Biden said in a Wednesday interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos that there was no way to avoid the chaos that erupted in Afghanistan following his order that U.S. troops withdraw from the country.
“I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that – we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” Biden said. (RELATED: White House Messaging On Afghanistan Gets A Massive And Rapid Makeover)
Neumann balked at the suggestion that there was no way to avoid chaos.
“Well, that’s a misstatement to be polite,” he said. “The decision to leave is one thing. The execution of that decision has been absolutely abominable.”
The former ambassador said that the decision to leave was “rushed” and contributed to the panic. (RELATED: Biden Vows To Remain In Afghanistan Until Everyone Is Evacuated)
“It has been rushed. It has caused part of the panic, it has added to it,” Neumann added. “The whole business of taking out interpreters, Special Immigrant Visa people, was kept on slow walk for several months after the withdrawal decision. So they could have been processed months ago and they weren’t.”
“So the president is defending himself, which of course you expect the president to do, but there was time still to deal with this,” he continued. “I was in Kabul a month ago, things were not anywhere near where they are now, and they could have been doing things that are happening now in chaos.”