U.S. President Joe Biden’s defense of his withdrawal from Afghanistan amounted to a high-stakes bet that U.S. voters want out of a 20-year war and will forgive him for the searing images of desperate Afghans looking to flee.
But his speech to the nation on Monday also laid bare his limited ability to change events on the ground, meaning the attacks on his competence and judgment from allies and rivals alike will continue to batter his administration.
It’s a gamble that has left him with ownership of a crisis that could determine the fate of his presidency and longer-term perceptions abroad about American power and leadership.