CNN's Clarissa Ward tells Colbert the Taliban believes the Kabul airport chaos 'looks really bad for them'

The Biden administration is getting heavy bipartisan criticism for the harried U.S. evacuation of Kabul after a faster-than-expected Taliban occupation of the Afghan capital, and CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward told The Late Show's Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night that Afghans are angry over America's manner of exit, too.

"You know, I think this is a really important point to clarify," Ward said. "The Afghans that I have spoken to do not blame America for withdrawing from Afghanistan. They did not expect America to continue to fight another country's war for decades more, and they understand fully that Afghan people must assume responsibility of their own country. Where the bitterness, where the sadness, where the fear comes from is the manner in which this withdrawal was executed, the chaos of it, the hurried nature of it, the fact that more concessions weren't extracted from the Taliban during those negotiations" in 2020.

That's especially true for the Afghans who worked for U.S. forces and have not yet been extracted from the country — and may not be, Ward said. "That Taliban has definitely said please don't leave, because they're aware, from a public relations perspective, that these images of a crush of humanity desperately clinging to the fuselage of U.S. Air Force carriers trying to get out of the country, they're aware that looks really bad for them."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Even the Taliban was shocked at the speed with which they overran Afghanistan, "often without a shot fired, Stephen, and Afghan forces just melting away," Ward said. But a day after Kabul residents suddenly "woke up in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, forever changed," the streets were busier on Tuesday, the veneer of quasi-normality cracked when you notice "there's no women on the streets." At the same time, "it was amazing" watching younger Afghan journalists pepper the Taliban spokesman with tough questions at his first-ever press conference," she said. "You know, the Taliban, it remains to be seen whether or not they have changed, but the Afghan people have changed and they are going to stand up for what they believe in."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.