Americans are increasingly upset with the way President Joe Biden handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan, with only 30 per cent saying they approve of the way it went down.
In the Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday, 12 per cent of registered voters say they strongly approve of Biden's handling of the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, which left 13 U.S. service members dead and hundreds of Americans citizens stranded there. Another 18 per cent said they somewhat approve of the president's handling.
On the other hand, a whopping 61 per cent of American voters say they either somewhat or strongly disapprove of Biden's withdrawal plan.
The president, in remarks declaring an end to the 20-year war in Afghanistan on Tuesday, called the withdrawal an 'extraordinary success' – despite a slew of criticism and leaving hundreds of Americans behind to meet the August 31 deadline he set with the Taliban.
The mission, however, is taking a toll on Biden's political standing.
A new poll shows a whopping 61 per cent of American voters do not approve of Joe Biden's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal while only three in 10 approve
In defiant remarks on Tuesday declaring the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, Biden said it was an 'extraordinary success' despite 13 U.S. service member deaths in the chaos and leaving hundreds of American citizens behind
The president's overall approval rating sits at 47 per cent, according to the poll – tying with his lowest average approval rating, which dipped below 50 per cent for the first time in the midst of the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
The latest survey shows he's underwater with voters with a 49 per cent disapproval rating.
Nearly four in 10 – 39 per cent – of respondents said they feel the country is on the right track while 61 per cent say they think things 'have pretty seriously gone off on the wrong track.'
Originally, Biden set the troop withdrawal deadline for September 11, 2021 – the date of the 20 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that started the war in Afghanistan in the first place. He moved that date to August 31 and the last military planes and troops departed from Afghanistan on August 30.
Fifty per cent of the 1,997 voters surveyed told pollsters that they supported his decision to end the military presence in Afghanistan by September 11, and 41 per cent said they disapproved of it.
The poll was conducted August 28-30 – in the final days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The president refused to extend the deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, despite projections that the timeline would not allow forces to get all U.S. citizens out of the country in time.
Instead, the president appeared to give into pressure from the Taliban, as they warned there would be consequences if Washington didn't stick to the August 31 deadline.
Biden vowed in his combative Tuesday remarks, where he did not take any questions, to help get remaining U.S. citizens out of Afghanistan.
The White House said over the weekend that the president would meet with his national security team every day this week in efforts to continue evacuations with the absence of a troop presence in Afghanistan.
The last U.S. troops departed Afghanistan on Monday – a day before the August 31 deadline. Here people wave Taliban flags on Tuesday during a rally celebrating the U.S. withdrawal
He also insisted in his remarks Tuesday that there was no possible way to conduct the withdrawal in a 'more orderly manner', despite several experts and retired top Military brass saying that Bagram Air Base shouldn't have been abandoned.
Biden said he 'respectfully disagreed' with critics who said he should have started the evacuation sooner to avoid the chaos.
In the chaos in Kabul, an ISIS-K suicide bomber was able to get close enough to the gates to kill 11 Marines, an Army Special Forces member and a Navy Corpsman – as well as scores of Afghanis attempting to flee the country – in the explosion.
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