The Biden administration is shocked that the Taliban are untrustworthy

Somebody call Captain Renault. The Biden administration is shocked — shocked! — to learn that the Taliban continue to act like the Taliban.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the weekend. The fact that the Taliban were sheltering al Qaeda’s top leader, and has attempted to cover up that fact, is obviously a problem. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban “grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries.”

Wow, who could have possibly seen this coming?

Not the State Department, evidently. Blinken had claimed that the Taliban “seeks international legitimacy and support” in justifying the administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. When the Taliban’s members were stocking the Afghan government with men with terrorist ties or when the group was carrying out retaliatory killings against members of the previous government, the State Department meekly declared it was “deeply concerned.” At what point would you think it would be clear to Blinken and the Biden administration that the Taliban wouldn’t be trustworthy?

The state of the administration is so pathetic that it is repeating the same wishful thinking about the Taliban caring about its perception in the international community. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last year that the Taliban had to “make an assessment” about their role in the international community. Now, John Kirby is warning the Taliban that they have a “new choice” to comply with the agreement or lose the trust of the international community.

The Taliban were never going to change their behavior to win some sort of approval from the international community, especially when the Biden administration handed them Afghanistan on a silver platter. The Taliban are exactly who we thought they were — and who they always have been. Somehow, Biden’s foreign policy A-team was filled with the only people who thought otherwise.