Biden had previously called the reporter the ‘most interesting man in media’
Joe Biden looked exasperated and frustrated during his press conference in response to the attack on Kabul airport, resting his head on his hands as he was caught in a tense exchange with Fox reporter Peter Doocy, reports The Independent.
Speaking to the press on Thursday after his address a few hours earlier, Mr Biden was challenged by Doocy who claimed that the President was solely to blame for the ISIS-K attack in Kabul which has killed at least 60 civilians and 13 US troops.
While accepting that he did bare responsibility, Mr Biden rejected the notion that he was the only person to blame for the attack and the weeks of unrest which preceded it.
Biden schools Peter Doocy and takes him to task for not reporting the facts on Trump's surrender to the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/b5VTma98ms
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 26, 2021
In his response to the reporter, Mr Biden drew the press’ attention to a deal struck by former President Trump with the Taliban which promised a US withdrawal from the country by May 1. In return, the Taliban vowed not to attack US military personnel.
Mr Biden argued that Doocy was well aware of this detail, but was refusing to include it in his report of the events.
Mr Biden said: “I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that happened of late. But here’s the deal, you know – I wish you would one day say these things – you know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban.”
Doocy’s response caused a low murmur across the press pool and a look of sheer exasperation from Mr Biden, though it’s as yet unclear what the reporter said to the President.
Mr Biden added: “You know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban, that he would get all American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1. In return he was given a commitment that the Taliban would continue to attack others, but would not attack any American forces.”
Doocy’s response could only be heard in part, though he asked the President: “Do you think people have an issue not with pulling out of Afghanistan but the way things have happened?”
The exchange provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many right-wing commentators said Mr Biden was brought to task.
Earlier in the day, the President said the attackers would ‘pay’ for the events of Thursday.
“We will not forget,” he said in his address, and vowed to “hunt down” the those responsible for the attacks.
He pledged that the US would get any remaining Americans out of Afghanistan and said the IS members who ordered the attacks would be found without the use of a “large military force.”
