Biden- then and now

Troy MI

Description

In January 2002, when the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan reopened for the first time since 1989, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the first member of Congress to visit him in Kabul was the then-senator from Delaware, Joe Biden. "One of his really great qualities, I thought, was his driving need to see things for himself... and I just really respected that," Crocker said, pointing out that Biden also visited Iraq many times. Crocker had considered the president an old-school internationalist, in the vein of presidents going back to World War II who believed in U.S. leadership on the global stage and spearheaded large international organizations. But with the havoc unfolding in Afghanistan, Crocker says he can no longer make sense of the man he once thought would restore American credibility and international order after Donald Trump. "What have they done with the real Joe Biden? And who is this guy up there now?" Crocker asked. "For me, there are kind of two sets of issues here: one of them is, what his international philosophy actually is, the other is, quite frankly, an issue of competence. I found both alarming."