A Biden State Department senior official claims that the administration is “powerless” to protect Afghanistan women and girls from the Taliban.
As Friday morning reports show the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Molly Montgomery shared her thoughts on Twitter.
“Woke up with a heavy heart, thinking about all the Afghan women and girls I worked with during my time in Kabul,” she wrote on her account. “They were the beneficiaries of many of the gains we made, and now they stand to lose everything.”
Montgomery shared the expressed frustration that the Biden administration was unable to help them.
“We empowered them to lead, and now we are powerless to protect them,” she wrote.
The post disappeared from Twitter later in the day, but reporters took screenshots of it.
“This deleted tweet from a senior Biden State Department official captures the private feelings of many others,” Axios reporter Jonathan Swan wrote.
The Biden White House insists the president has no regrets about his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
“The President is firmly focused on how we can continue to execute an orderly drawdown and protect our men and women serving in Afghanistan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Fox News. “You heard him earlier this week: he does not regret his decision.”
During his presidential campaign, Biden denied he would bear responsibility for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan while interviewing with CBS News.
In February 2020, Biden said, “Do I bear responsibility? Zero responsibility,”