National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has tendered his resignation from President Biden's administration following the failure of the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to The Washington Post's David Ignatius. It is reported that.
Washington Post columnist Ignatius spoke to Sullivan and several colleagues as the Biden administration nears its end.
Some of Mr. Sullivan's colleagues told Mr. Ignatius that Mr. Sullivan had offered to resign, but President Biden insisted that he remain as national security adviser, the report said.
Ignatius reported that the Afghanistan withdrawal “shattered the initial decency” of the Biden administration's national security team and caused discord between Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The 2021 withdrawal claimed the lives of more than a dozen American service members and allowed the Taliban to regain control of the war-torn country.
“Wars like Afghanistan can only end with complex and difficult outcomes, building up dependencies and pathologies,” he told a Washington Post columnist. “The choices were to leave, which is not easy, or stay forever.”
Sullivan added: “Leaving Kabul was liberating.” [United States] To deal with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a way that might not have been possible if we had stayed. ”
Ignatius wrote that the Pentagon has resisted Biden's call to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, insisting it supports “2,500 remaining troops in Kabul.”
Sullivan reportedly initially shared the Pentagon's concerns. Mr. Ignatius wrote this as a story between two close aides.
But he expressed “loyal” support for Biden's full withdrawal plan.
Alex Ward, the Wall Street Journal's national security correspondent who wrote “The Internationalists,” a book about the president's foreign policy team, said none of the advisers he spoke to in writing the book resigned. He pointed out that he had said he had not made an offer.
The White House and National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.
Sullivan evaluated his performance toward the end of his interview with Ignatius.
“Have our alliances become stronger? Yes. Are our enemies weaker? Yes. Have we kept America out of war? Yes. “Have we improved our strategic position in the United States? Yes. Have we strengthened America's economic and technological powerhouse? Yes,” he said.
