Cleaning Up After Biden on al Qaeda Biden’s falsehoods show a misunderstanding of the continuing threat from Islamic terrorism.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cleaning-up-after-biden-on-al-qaeda-11629671400?mod=opinion_lead_pos3
Cleaning up President Biden’s many false statements on Afghanistan is a difficult job, but someone in his Administration has to do it. On Sunday that task fell to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the matter of al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan.
“Look, let’s put this thing in perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?” Mr. Biden said on Friday at the White House. “We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as—as well as—getting Osama bin Laden. And we did.”
That wasn’t correct. A Pentagon spokesman acknowledged as much on Friday, and a recent United Nations report said al Qaeda was active in 15 of 34 Afghanistan provinces. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace put the question to Mr. Blinken: “Is al Qaeda gone from Pakistan—from Afghanistan?”
Mr. Blinken: “Al Qaeda’s capacity to do what it did on 9/11—to attack us, to attack our partners or allies from Afghanistan—is vastly, vastly diminished.”
Mr. Wallace: “Is it gone?”
Mr. Blinken: “Are there al Qaeda members and remnants in Afghanistan? Yes. But what the President was referring to was its capacity to do what it did on 9/11. And that capacity has been very successfully diminished.”
This isn’t a game of gotcha with the President. Al Qaeda has been diminished in Afghanistan thanks to the U.S. presence in the country, CIA listening posts on the ground, and a friendly government. The question is whether, with its allies the Taliban now in control, al Qaeda and other terror groups will again have a sanctuary, be able to attract new recruits, and again plot against Americans.
Mr. Biden’s answers aren’t merely wrong. They misunderstand the continuing threat from Islamic terrorism.
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