President Joe Biden is battling a serious loss of personal credibility and political capital after some of his assertions on Afghanistan have been contradicted — by his own administration, by the US military, and by ground realities. Bumbling through a White House press conference, Biden claimed that the US mission in Afghanistan was essentially over since Osama bin Laden had been killed and al-Qaida was "gone" from the country, but Pentagon officials said soon after that al-Qaida, as well as ISIS, remain a presence in Afghanistan. In a report released in June, the UN too said Taliban and al-Qaida remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties.
