Defiant Biden Proclaims: ‘We Were Ready’ When Afghans ‘Watched Their Own Government Collapse’

A defiant President Joe Biden insisted in a Tuesday White House address that his administration was “ready” when Afghanistan’s government collapsed.

The “assumption that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown turned out not to be accurate,” Biden noted. “But I still instructed our national security team to prepare for every eventuality, even that one. That is what we did, so we were ready when Afghan security forces — after two decades of fighting for their country, and losing thousands of their own — did not hold on as long as anyone expected.”

Biden and his officials at the Pentagon and State Department have faced criticism for the tumultuous extraction of American citizens and military personnel during the country’s fall. Taliban fighters overran the country’s capital of Kabul on August 15, more than two weeks before U.S. forces were scheduled to leave. Around 170 people died during a suicide bombing at the city’s international airport last week, including 13 Americans. And rather than extending Biden August 31 deadline to withdraw, his administration ultimately bumped it up to August 30.

The president also took aim at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled after Kabul fell to the Taliban rather than remaining to face certain death, and said the people of Afghanistan “watched” as the 75,000-strong terror group overthrew the country’s government.

“We were ready when they [Afghan security forces] and the people of Afghanistan watched their own government collapse and their president flee amid the corruption and malfeasance, handing over the country to their enemy, the Taliban, and significantly increasing the risk to U.S. personnel and our allies,” Biden said.

Watch above via Fox Business Network.