President Biden this week touted his foreign policy experience as a reason to remain the Democratic nominee in November, but some have criticized the president’s efforts to overstate that experience and his accomplishments.
“During the week of the summit, several heads of state, in statements, personally thanked the United States and me for all that NATO has achieved.” Biden said at a news conference Thursday.“NATO isn’t just stronger. NATO is bigger because we led the effort to bring Finland and Sweden into the alliance. And that made a big difference.”
Biden was later asked why he had changed his mind about serving as a “bridge” candidate to a younger generation of Democratic leaders, arguing that “the gravity of the situation that I inherited in terms of the economy, foreign policy, and division at home” required continuity.
A Biden campaign official told Fox News Digital that Biden’s performance at Thursday’s press conference was what Americans expected, praising the president for his insightful answers to detailed questions about foreign policy, including topics related to the Russia-Ukraine war, China and other foreign policy issues.
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Here’s what Biden claims and what actually happened under his administration.
Afghanistan and the drawdown
Biden faced his biggest and most direct criticism on foreign policy by choosing to support Trump’s decision to completely withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a decision that led to a Taliban insurgency, the collapse of the previous government and the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers during the withdrawal.
“I am, and I still get criticized for it, firmly opposed to the occupation and the attempt to unify Afghanistan,” Biden said. “After we captured bin Laden, we should have moved on, because no one can unite that country.”
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President Trump developed and negotiated a plan for the withdrawal of US troops, but set an aggressive deadline of May 2021, giving the troops six months to withdraw. Biden extended that deadline to September 11, 2021, but insisted on completing the agreement.
Hundreds of people gather around a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane parked at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 17, 2021. (Associated Press)
But in 2023, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., revealed that in a dissent cable sent through State Department channels, nearly two dozen staff members and diplomats had warned that the plan laid out by President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken would lead to rebellion and collapse, which is exactly what happened.
Gen. Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified just weeks after the troop reduction that he and other generals had opposed a full troop reduction and suggested keeping about 2,500 troops in the country. Biden insisted, “As far as I can remember, no one has ever said that to me.”
Ukraine and Russia
Biden’s handling of Russia and Ukraine has arguably been his greatest foreign policy achievement, but critics argue his approach to relations with Russia led to aggression and led Russian President Vladimir Putin to believe he could succeed in taking over Ukraine.
“Anyone who thought NATO was over was put on notice by President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Biden argued. “We had intelligence gathering months before the invasion that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine, and I directed that reams of that information be declassified so that we could begin to build an international coalition to counter the invasion.”
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But at least one military official acknowledged that Biden’s deterrence policy had not been effective enough to thwart Putin’s planned invasion. Army Gen. Todd Walters told the House Armed Services Committee in March 2022 that he “doesn’t disagree” with the conclusion that “deterrence in Ukraine has failed.”
A view of damaged buildings after Russian artillery fire in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on March 3, 2022. (Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration warned of Russian aggression and attempted to deter Putin with a series of sanctions in January and February, but Biden later asserted that “sanctions never deter.”
Russian soldiers patrol the Mariupol Theater, Mariupol, April 12, 2022. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
But as the war enters its third year, and many in Congress question how long the United States and its allies can continue to support Ukraine in a war with no end in sight, Biden continues to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend itself against Russia in a strategy known as the “Porcupine Strategy.”
Iran appeasement?
One of the most contentious issues surrounding Biden’s foreign policy is how to respond to Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Despite Biden’s admission that “sanctions are not a deterrent” to Russia, the Biden administration is relying heavily on sanctions to deter Iran. However, this in turn seems to encourage Iran to build stronger ties with Russia and China, easing the pressure.
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Biden addressed the new developments at a press conference, saying he had plans to “block its impact” but could not discuss details publicly. Biden warned that many European allies could cut investments in China if China continued to indirectly support Russia, but did not mention Iran directly.
Israel and Gaza
Biden spent a significant amount of time discussing Israel and Gaza during his press conference, which came the day before he announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed in principle to a framework for reaching a ceasefire agreement.
“The question from the beginning was, what happens after Gaza?” Biden said, adding that he has since “united Arab nations” to protect Israel from Iranian ballistic missiles.
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“Nobody was hurt,” he stressed, “and it’s a startling lesson about what’s going on in the Middle East.”
“Looking back, there are many things I wish I had persuaded Israel to do, but at the end of the day, this time we have a chance to end this war,” he added.
Palestinians gather in the center of the Gaza Strip on May 19, 2024, hoping to receive aid delivered to Gaza through a US-built jetty amid ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. (Reuters/Ramadan Abed/File Photo)
Many have argued that the attack on Israel was motivated by Iran’s emboldened approach to appeasement by the Biden administration. Shortly after the October 7 attack on Israel, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) blamed Biden for “weakness” on Iran.
“For three years, the president has appeased Iran, the world’s worst state sponsor of terror,” Cotton said. “Not only did we release $6 billion in sanctions last month, we released $10 billion from Iraq to Iran.”
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Western officials ultimately determined that Iran did not orchestrate the attack on Israel, but months later Iran proudly claimed the attack was in retaliation for the assassination of Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani, a charge Hamas denied.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Andrew Mark Miller and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
