White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby needs to check who is in the email chain before responding.
Kirby sent an email meant for White House staffers but didn’t see that Fox News Digital was in the chain.
Kirby said it’s “no use” to respond to veterans critical of President Joe Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal:
“Obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,” Kirby said in a “reply all” email chain Wednesday afternoon that appeared to be intended for White House staffers, but which also included Fox News Digital.Fox News Digital had reached out to the White House earlier Wednesday afternoon regarding critical comments from four veterans, including Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who blasted Kirby for his Monday press conference that they said provided “cover” for the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal.Included in that initial reachout were quotes from the four veterans, and Fox News Digital asked the White House if it had any comment to include on the vets’ blistering criticisms of Kirby and the White House’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. The email chain was forwarded to White House staffers on the National Security Council, before Kirby replied to all on the chain that there’s “no use in responding.”Kirby’s message was sent in error, with him following up with a Fox News Digital reporter, “Clearly, I didn’t realize you were on the chain.” Kirby sent the email while traveling with President Biden on the anniversary of 9/11.
The four veterans blasted Kirby for “deflecting” blame to Donald Trump, especially since a report from the House Republicans disputed “Biden’s claims that his hands were tied to an agreement made under former President Trump’s administration for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under an established deadline in 2021.”
The Biden administration had no plan to help Americans and allies in Afghanistan.
“The bottom line is that the Biden-Harris administration chose politics over strategy, and Kirby, who I wouldn’t trust to guard my grocery list, is now trying to cover for them,” Florida Republican Rep. Millstold Fox News.
Biden did not have to abide by the deadlines because top leaders told them “that the Taliban were already in violation of the conditions of the Doha agreement and, therefore, the U.S. was not obligated to leave.”
Even NATO allies disagreed with the timing. Col. Seth Krummrich, chief of staff for Special Operations Command, told the committee that Biden was going to leave Afghanistan no matter what:
The committee also found NATO allies had expressed their vehement opposition to the U.S. decision to withdraw. The British Chief of the Defense staff warned that “withdrawal under these circumstances would be perceived as a strategic victory for the Taliban.”Biden kept on Zalmay Khalilzad, a Trump appointee who negotiated the agreement, as special representative to Afghanistan – a signal that the new administration endorsed the deal.At the Taliban’s demand, Khalilzad had shut out the Afghan government from the talks – a major blow to President Ashraf Ghani’s government.When Trump left office, some 2,500 U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan. Biden himself was determined to draw that number to zero no matter what, according to Col. Seth Krummrich, chief of staff for Special Operations Command, who told the committee, “The president decided we’re going to leave, and he’s not listening to anybody.”Then-State Dept. spokesperson Ned Price admitted in testimony the Doha agreement was “immaterial” to Biden’s decision to withdraw.
The withdrawal led to the death of 13 soldiers:
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