The Washington Post is publishing a series of reports, based on government documents, detailing U.S. efforts to mislead the public with rosy assessments of a stagnant war in Afghanistan over three administrations. Moderators of Thursday's night's Democratic presidential debate asked Joe Biden, who was vice president in one of those administrations, about testimony that the Obama White House pressured the Pentagon to show a surge of troops was producing results when the evidence said otherwise.
"I'm the guy, from the beginning, who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan, period," Biden said. "We should not have done it. And I argued against it, constantly."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
-
Stacy Horn's 6 favorite works that explore the spectrum of evilFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Anthony Doerr, and more
-
'Many of us have warned for years of a rising ecofascist threat in response to climate chaos'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Is this the end of cigarettes?Today's Big Question An FDA rule targets nicotine addiction
-
Trump starts term with spate of executive ordersSpeed Read The president is rolling back many of Joe Biden's climate and immigration policies
-
Trump pardons or commutes all charged Jan. 6 riotersSpeed Read The new president pardoned roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot
-
With Cuba reinstated, US State Sponsors of Terrorism list expands back to fourThe Explainer How the handful of countries on the U.S. terrorism blacklist earned their spots
-
Will Trump's 'madman' strategy pay off?Today's Big Question Incoming US president likes to seem unpredictable but, this time round, world leaders could be wise to his playbook
-
DeSantis appoints Florida's top lawyer to US SenateSpeed Read The state's attorney general, Ashley Moody, will replace Sen. Marco Rubio in the Senate
-
'Democrats have many electoral advantages'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Five things Biden will be remembered forThe Explainer Key missteps mean history may not be kind to the outgoing US president
-
Pam Bondi downplays politics at confirmation hearingSpeed Read Trump's pick for attorney general claimed her Justice Department would not prosecute anyone for political reasons
