It was the kind of softball that White House press secretaries dream about: an easy, nonsensical request to describe the president Joe BidenThe biggest foreign policy success of the year.
But when the year includes a humiliating return Afghanistan, a defense deal that alienates key ally France, and the rush of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine, it must have looked like a curveball.
which could be why jane saki Struggled to respond on Tuesday.
What does the administration consider your biggest foreign policy achievement in this first year? Patsi Vidakuswara, a reporter for Voice of America, asked him what lesson did you learn from Afghanistan’s biggest failure.
‘You know, that’s a good question,’ she said.
‘I want to be thoughtful about it. I want to talk to the President about this.
‘And I’m happy to do so.’
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki failed to answer a softball question on Tuesday. Asked about President Biden’s biggest foreign policy success of the year, he said he would have to talk to the president and answer later.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan saw a crush of Afghans trying to access security and flights from Kabul airport before US troops left the country at the hands of the Taliban.
The year ends with Biden facing another foreign policy crisis as Russian troops at the border with Ukraine ramp up and the president tries to unify Moscow’s opposition.
Republicans rejoice over failure to name foreign policy success
The non-response was seized on by critics on social media and a video clip was tweeted out by the Republican National Committee — a sure sign of a briefing room gaffe.
In response, international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky wrote, ‘How shameful’.
‘White House spokesmen cannot answer the simple question of what has been the biggest foreign policy achievement of the Biden administration.
‘Or is it possible that there isn’t one?’
Others threw back Biden’s own words on the administration, pointing out that the president had called Afghanistan’s withdrawal an “extraordinary success.”
Much of Biden’s year has been taken up by foreign policy – from the decision to leave Afghanistan to the worry that Russia is about to invade Ukraine.
Saki at the first briefing stressed on questions concerning the outcome of the Afghan departure and the Americans still in the country.
Let me reiterate what Tony Blinken said in August, which is that if Americans living in Afghanistan want to leave, whether it’s three weeks, a month from now, two months from now – back in August – We’ll help they get out,’ she said.
‘And that’s something we’ve had our say.’
She said 479 US citizens had been helped to leave, along with 450 lawful permanent residents.
How that squared off with previous reports of 100 to 200 people, before asking Peter Ducey of Fox News if the president was committed to getting people out.
On August 31, Biden called the comeback an ‘extraordinary success’
“Certainly, he gets regular updates from his team and the State Department and other national security officials really lead this effort,” Saki said before expressing displeasure.
‘The United States does not track or track American citizens traveling abroad, whether in Afghanistan or any other country around the world.’
The departure of American soldiers is casting a shadow on the administration.
Some 13 service personnel died in the final days of the evacuation when an ISIS suicide bomber detonated explosives at Kabul airport, and chaotic scenes of refugees falling from departing planes provided the defining image of departure.
Still, after the Taliban seized the capital as a victory, Biden made a hasty return.
Declaring the end of America’s 20-year war in the country, he said, “The extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States Army and our diplomats and intelligence professionals.”
But allies such as the UK have said they feel blinded by a hasty exit and fear rivals such as Russia and China may feel a weakness in Washington.
The Biden administration had to go on a lucrative offensive in response to another controversy, when the Australian government abandoned a deal for French submarines in favor of American technology in a defense deal with the UK and Australians.
The aggrieved French ministers accused Biden of following a course set by former President Donald Trump to degrade allies.
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