President Biden is privately defiant that he made the right calls on Afghanistan in 2021 despite the U.S. military's chaotic exit, according to an upcoming book obtained by Axios.Why it matters: Biden believes history will look kindly on his decision to end the two-decade war — America's longest — even though it came at an enormous political cost to Biden, whose polling numbers have never recovered from the fallout.
13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing outside Kabul's airport as the U.S. evacuated. In all, more than 2,400 U.S. service members died in Afghanistan during the war, and more than 20,000 were wounded.
After Afghanistan, "no one offered to resign, in large part because the president didn't believe anyone had made a mistake. Ending the war was always going to be messy," Politico's Alexander Ward writes in "The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore Foreign Policy After Trump."
Driving the news: After Afghanistan, "no one offered to resign, in large part because the president didn't believe anyone had made a mistake. Ending the war was always going to be messy," Politico's Alexander Ward writes in "The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore Foreign Policy After Trump."
"Biden told his top aides, [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan included, that he stood by them and they had done their best during a tough situation.""There wasn't even a real possibility of a shake-up," a White House official told Ward.
The intrigue: The book provides fresh reporting and vivid scenes on the Biden team's decisions to exit Afghanistan — and the internal fights along the way.
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