Granite State Times

A new poll showed that veterans in New Hampshire do not support how President Joe Biden handled the final withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of American troops.

According to the Facebook survey of veterans, 128 of 143 respondents (approximately 89.5%) disapproved of the exit strategy that took place in August. Almost 8% said they supported the decision and 2.8% had no opinion. 

"They did all this totally backwards. Instead of evacuating Americans first… they receded from Bagram Airbase and handed it over, essentially, leaving it as a sitting duck nearly a month and a half ago… This is just poor decision-making and poor judgment," Matt Mowers, a former State Department official under the Trump administration who is now running for Congress in New Hampshire, told Fox News Aug. 30.

Nationally, the social media poll targeting veterans in seven states found that 93.4% of respondents did not believe that the withdrawal honored those who served and gave their lives in the conflict. The poll took place from Sept. 1 to Sept. 9 and received 769 responses. 

The poll results are similar to the opinion of most Americans when it comes to how the military withdrew from Afghanistan, according to a recent poll from the Washington Examiner, which reported that 69% of citizens disapproved of the exit strategy. 

Part of the criticism the Biden administration faced around the withdrawal is that many Americans and Afghanistan allies were left behind, along with the dramatic photograph of Afghans clinging to U.S. military transport planes while they were traveling on the runway at the international airport in Kabul. 

Before the final pullout, the State Department was not able to assist all the Americans stranded in Afghanistan and instructed people not to call the embassy for help, stating in an official advisory: “Do not call the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for details or updates about the flight," The Wall Street Journal reported. 

In a set of prepared remarks, Biden said, “I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.” However, a former CIA expert says Biden’s statement is “misleading at best,” as his agency and others anticipated this scenario and briefed the president months ago, Just Security reported.