We have become a society that judges to much on a small visual image and neglects to look at the big picture. So let's get some facts about how this was a shitshow. Someone else gave you the facts of real performance. What would have constituted a non shitshow? Perfection? Good luck with that.
There's not a good pilot around that wouldn't critique every flight they made. You never can reach perfection. That doesn't mean it's bad. Making hard decisions real time is hard to do and easy to back seat drive.
This was a lot more than lack of perfection. The interagency coordination - the source of a lot of trouble - was a problem. Biden's in charge of that. But he (I suspect) got tired of DOD and State slow-rolling him, and said "Do it." And this is politics: It happened on his watch, by his order.
Trump had already made the deal with the Taliban that made it all a fait accompli anyways. It was Biden’s responsibility and decision and it made sense but it unfortunately never got discussed with the nuance it deserved.
We fought there for 19 years and Taliban took over in a few weeks with minimal opposition from our ally. How was it supposed to go? It was awful but that’s war and that’s what retreat looks like. Still the right move.
Yes. Biden therefore must take the blame.
Also, IMO Biden needed three speeches to the nation that did not happen: 1) AFG pullout 2) Inflation 3) Support for Ukraine Biden's was a mostly competent administration that had no sense of historic import.