Chaos from Afghanistan withdrawal has divided Democrats

In his seven months as president, Joe Biden has largely kept his party — from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin — on the same page.

But that unity on policy and politics has appeared to unravel a bit after the Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Biden after his speech on Monday (“The president is to be commended for his strong leadership and exceptional focus on bringing American military involvement in Afghanistan to an end”), other Democrats have been more biting in their appraisals.

“I am disappointed that the Biden administration clearly did not accurately assess the implications of a rapid U.S. withdrawal. We are now witnessing the horrifying results of many years of policy and intelligence failures,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said Tuesday, per NBC’s Julie Tsirkin.

“I am deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, including Afghans that are being targeted by the Taliban,” said Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., per NBC’s Frank Thorp.

Reed, who blamed Democratic and GOP administrations over the last 20 years for the failures in Afghanistan, added that his committee would be holding hearings on what went wrong.

“This certainly has not been a good day for America. The images we saw coming out of Afghanistan show a tremendous humanitarian crisis. This is going to hurt us, no question about it,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Ben Cardin, D-Md., said yesterday on MSNBC, though he made it clear the biggest U.S. mistake in Afghanistan was by former President George W. Bush.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — before the weekend — was an immensely popular opinion supported by Democrats and even a majority of Republicans.

But now almost the entire GOP, including those like Donald Trump who helped orchestrate the withdrawal, have criticized Biden’s handling of the issue.

And some prominent Democrats in the foreign affairs/military community have, too.