FactChecking Biden on Afghanistan

In defending his administration's handling of the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has made several remarks that haven't always squared with the facts.

A FactCheck.org team recently reviewed some of his speeches and interviews and documented a handful of false comments and misstatements.

For example, Biden asked at one point, “What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?”

But multiple lines of evidence show that al Qaeda isn't "gone."  A February report by the Defense Department inspector general's office said "members of al-Qaeda were integrated into the Taliban’s leadership and command structure." And in May, U.N. sanctions monitors reported that al Qaeda “is resident in at least 15 Afghan provinces, primarily in the east, southern and south-eastern regions."

On more than one occasion, Biden also overstated the size of the Afghan military. He told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that the military had "300,000 troops," suggesting that nobody anticipated the military would collapse as quickly as it did.

But about a third of the "300,000 troops" were members of the Afghan National Police, which is responsible for civilian policing.

Biden also claimed that the concept of “nation building” in Afghanistan “never made any sense” to him. While his position evidently changed some years ago, he spoke in favor of it in the early 2000s.

In a 2001 interview, he was asked if the U.S. should “be in the business of nation building” in Afghanistan “if and when the Taliban falls.” Biden replied, "Absolutely, along with the rest of the world."

Read the full story, "FactChecking Biden’s Statements About Afghanistan."

Reader: “Fact checkers” said the video by Charlie Kirk had false information. What he said was that the staff [at] the White House is not mandated to get the vaccine. Jen Psaki in a press conference confirmed that fact and would not give the percentage of people that are vaxxed in the WH. So “Fact Checkers” has false information. Watch the video of Jen Psaki!

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: You write, “’Fact checkers’ said the video by Charlie Kirk had false information.” We did not say it had false information. We said it was missing context and, as a result, misleading. 

Kirk said the “White House staff is not required to get vaccinated,” but he didn’t mention that staffers are required to attest to being vaccinated. Those who don’t attest to being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be required to comply with other mitigation measures, including routine testing, masking, physical distancing and travel restrictions. Kirk didn’t explain any of that. We did. Also, Psaki’s comments that Kirk showed in his video were from a press briefing that occurred six days before the White House announcement of the so-called “vaccine-or-test” requirement for federal employees. We addressed that in our story.

Lastly, it is important to note that Kirk baselessly suggests that the White House may not be not requiring a full-blown vaccine mandate because of some undisclosed problem with the vaccine. He says, “Are they seeing data that is questionable? Should we be worried because they know something we don’t?” That’s nonsense. The data show the vaccines are safe and effective, even against the delta variant, as we have written before.

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick’s False Claim About Unvaccinated Black People": The majority of United States residents who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 are white, according to available state data and survey research. That contradicts Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s claim that, “in most states,” Black residents are “the biggest group” of unvaccinated people.
   
• "Chiropractor Again Peddles False, Misleading COVID-19 Claims": The delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is more transmissible than previous forms of the virus, and has helped spur an increase in cases, including in children. But a chiropractor in a Facebook video wrongly claims that “it is not showing more of a problem.” That’s one of several misleading and false claims he makes about COVID-19.
   
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• "Malala Yousafzai Has Responded to Taliban Takeover, Plight of ‘My Afghan Sisters’": Malala Yousafzai has expressed deep concerns for women and children in Afghanistan since the Taliban entered the country’s capital on Aug. 15. Yet a post on social media falsely accused Yousafzai, a children’s rights advocate, of being “silent” about the Taliban takeover and the impact on Afghan girls and women.
   
• "Charlie Kirk Misleads on White House Vaccine Policy": Federal employees — including at the White House — must attest to being vaccinated against COVID-19, or else comply with routine testing and mitigation measures. But conservative commentator Charlie Kirk claims that the “White House staff is not required to be vaccinated,” baselessly questioning if undisclosed concerns about the vaccines are at play.
   
• "Instagram Post Wrong on U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan": Eleven American military members were killed in Afghanistan in 2020, including four in combat. But, as the U.S. nears its Aug. 31 deadline for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, a social media post falsely claims that there weren’t any U.S. casualties in Afghanistan in the last year-and-a-half of the Trump administration.

• "Publicación en redes da consejo engañoso sobre obligatoriedad de vacunas y beneficios por desempleo": Con algunas empresas exigiendo vacunas contra el COVID-19 para sus empleados, un mensaje en redes sociales le dice engañosamente a los trabajadores que no quieren vacunarse, que pueden recibir subsidio por desempleo si son despedidos. En la mayoría de los estados, los trabajadores despedidos por violar las políticas de una empresa que garantizan la seguridad en el lugar de trabajo no tienen acceso a los beneficios por desempleo.