A former Trump counterterrorism official says that there is only one person responsible for the bombing in Afghanistan that took the lives of American Troops – and that person is President Joe Biden.
Nathan Sales, the former ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism under President Trump, told Fox News in an exclusive interview that Biden’s “most important misstep” was the decision to leave the Bagram Air Base, which is more remote and in a better location to aid evacuation efforts.
“One of the most important and mistaken decisions that President Biden made was to withdraw from Bagram Air Base. Bagram Air Base is 30 or so miles north of the capital. It was a military facility. It was indeed the heart of American counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan for years. It would have been a far better alternative for carrying out the evacuation that is now going on,” Sales said.
Sales, a Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member, said that the base would have been “far better” for American evacuation efforts because it is remote, far from population centers, and easier to defend and control access. Kabul’s airport, on the other hand, is more dangerous and susceptible to attacks due to its location in the heart of the densely packed city center, surrounded by hotels, buildings, and crowds of people.
He referenced previously reported information about how the White House, over several points during the last two weeks, was presented with opportunities to reconsider the decision to leave Bagram and each time declined to go back in.
Among the many mistakes he made handling Afghanistan, Sales says that decision was one of Biden’s worst and cost American lives. “I think that was probably one of the most important missteps that the White House took over the course of the evacuation,” said Sales.
Sales also told Fox News that the U.S. should have extended the perimeter around the airport, and the Biden administration has not provided a good reason as to why that did not happen.
“The United States should not be outsourcing security at the airport to the Taliban. American lives are at stake, and there is no substitute to extending the security perimeter to keep our people safe.”
Sales also told Fox News that the attacks near the Kabul airport Thursday were likely carried out by ISIS Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a more local branch of the global Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) network, signaling that terrorist threats in Afghanistan will continue to grow.
Since Sales’ interview CNN is reporting that it has been confirmed that the attacks were carried out by ISIS-K. The attack killed maybe as many as 90 Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers.
General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said U.S. commanders were watching for more attacks by Islamic State, including possibly rockets or car bombs targeting the airport.
“We’re doing everything we can to be prepared,” McKenzie said, adding that some intelligence was being shared with the Taliban and that he believed “some attacks have been thwarted by them.”