Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign

Judge keeps tying Trump to possible intimidation

What extremism looks like to Sean Hannity and his party

5 big travel lessons from a Patagonia CEO-turned-conservationist

Cruise worker accused of stabbing 3 with scissors arrested in Alaska

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Hack targeting hospital chain Ascension is impacting patient care

A college professor wants to use Section 230 against Big Tech

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

Dog hit by car loses leg, is adopted by firefighter who helped her

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Think you want a dog? Take our quiz to find out if you’re ready.

In Photos: Russians mark 79th Victory Day with military parade

Tornadoes hit Michigan, damage FedEx facility

Protesters descend on Eurovision, object to Israel’s participation

Emboldened Russia marks Victory Day with parade of nuclear-capable weapons

Deaf baby hears for the first time after ‘groundbreaking’ gene therapy trial

Need beauty? These are 7 of the most gorgeous gardens in the D.C. area.

Nationals finally run out of answers and fall to Orioles in 12 innings

4 best things to do with kids in the D.C. area this weekend

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

Ask Amy: Relatives keep giving me updates on my old family home

Ask Sahaj: My husband wants me to forget all about his emotional affair

Carolyn Hax: Was it wrong to approach late wife’s pal for no-commitment sex?

In the campaign against Donald Trump, do the ends justify the means?

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

In Arizona, election workers trained with deepfakes to prepare for 2024

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

Indy Star bars columnist from Caitlin Clark’s games after awkward exchange

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Two weeks before Saigon fell in April 1975, a 32-year-old Joe Biden was among the senators summoned to the White House for a top-secret briefing on the crisis in Vietnam.

Though just a freshman, Biden gave the president a clear message: The situation in Vietnam was hopeless, and the United States should leave as quickly as possible, according to a column by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak at the time that described Biden’s interactions with then-President Gerald Ford.

Other senators who supported Biden at the time were taken aback by their young colleague’s “didactic performance,” the columnists wrote.

Nearly half a century later, Biden’s attitude toward the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has been strikingly similar — even as events echo the frantic evacuation of Americans and those who helped them in South Vietnam.

Just as the Viet Cong captured city after city with momentum that surprised American war planners, Kabul came under siege this weekend after lightning-fast advances by insurgent Taliban fighters.

Images on Sunday of helicopters shuttling officials from the former U.S. Embassy complex to the city’s main airport recalled the panicked evacuation of Americans from Saigon and the long lines of Vietnamese hoping to find a way out.

Today’s questions about the fate of U.S. citizens, military and locals who have supported the effort as the U.S.-backed government collapses were also key issues in the final days before the fall of Saigon.

And Biden’s response has been remarkably consistent.

Then, as now, Biden was unmoved by arguments made by the military that more time and money could change the on-the-ground dynamics or at least delay the outcome. Then, as now, he has questioned the utility of continuing a conflict that he deems to be lost. And then, as now, he was willing to increase U.S. aid only as a way to provide security for a withdrawal.

On the other hand, Biden’s overall approach to military intervention <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/18/biden-afghanistan-military-power/" title="www.washingtonpost.com">has swung widely</a> over the course of his long career in Washington. Biden didn’t support the first U.S. conflict with Iraq but did support the second one, only to later say he regretted that vote. He at times called for more troops in Afghanistan but later argued against adding them.

A decade ago, Biden suggested that a withdrawal from Afghanistan that left allies feeling betrayed was a reasonable outcome, drawing a comparison to the end of Vietnam.

In a private conversation with Richard Holbrooke, who was President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Biden argued that the United States does not have an obligation to Afghans who trusted the United States, according to “Our Man,” a biography of Holbrooke by George Packer.

“We don’t have to worry about that,” Biden told Holbrooke, according to the book. “We did it in Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger got away with it,” he said, referring to President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who was secretary of state to Nixon and Ford.

In the same conversation, Biden also reportedly pushed back on the argument that America had a moral obligation to women in Afghanistan.

“I am not sending my boy back there to risk his life on behalf of women’s rights!” Biden said, according the book’s account. “It just won’t work — that’s not what they’re there for.”

Biden took a similarly realpolitik view of Southeast Asia.

“I may be the most immoral son of a gun in this room,” Biden said at a Democratic caucus in early 1975 as he argued against aid to Cambodia, according to the Wilmington Morning News. “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about morality, our moral obligation. There’s a point where you are incapable of meeting moral obligations that exist worldwide.”

In early 1975, Biden had initially agreed to go on a congressional fact-finding mission to South Vietnam.

The trip’s organizers wanted to make a case that additional U.S. aid would be helpful, and Biden was criticized by some conservative pundits for being too set in his views.

Biden, they complained, was clear that he wanted U.S. military aid ended no matter what he might see on the ground. They noted that he had said of the trip that he “can’t imagine what could change my mind, unless it were proof of Communist reprisals against South Vietnamese after a military collapse.” He quickly added: “I question that I would even then.” (The trip was canceled after a number of lawmakers begged off, according to news reports.)

Three weeks before the fall of Saigon, top Ford administration officials pleaded with Biden and other senators for more U.S. military aid, according to newspaper accounts.

In a closed-door briefing, top officials at the State and Defense departments told Biden and other senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the South Vietnamese army had “a chance” to defend Saigon and the Mekong Delta area with more U.S. military aid, the newspaper accounts said.

“I am convinced there is absolutely no chance,” Biden told reporters after the briefing, according to an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

But Biden was willing to spend tax dollars on a narrowly tailored effort to extract Americans.

Days before Saigon fell, the Senate approved a measure authorizing Ford to use tens of millions of dollars to aid with an evacuation.

“It is merely a ransom,” Biden said, joining with other senators who opposed military aid to Vietnam but backed the emergency funding out of a worry that some of the South Vietnamese would be angry about being deserted by their ally and would need to be “bought off” to allow Americans to safely depart, according to news accounts at the time.

When Saigon did fall, Biden was reflective and struck a tone of hope.

“We now seem to be finally out of Vietnam,” Biden said to the Seattle Daily Times. “It seems to me we’ve learned an important lesson about careless military involvement abroad.”

Wellesley College

Annie Linskey is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. 

She covered the 2020 presidential campaign for the Post. Before coming to The Post, Linskey was the lead reporter on Democrats for the Boston Globe's Washington bureau during the 2016 campaign. She reported on the Obama White House for Bloomberg News and BusinessWeek. 

Annie Linskey

The Washington Post

From Saigon to Kabul: Biden?s response to Vietnam echoes in his views of Afghanistan withdrawal

Neal Ulevich

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Politics

iptc-media/politics/government/heads_of_state

iptc-media/conflict_war_and_peace/armed_conflict/war

iptc-media/politics/political_process

iptc-media/politics/government/congress

iptc-media/politics/international_relations

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/government/defence

iptc-media/politics/government/defence/security_measures_(defence)

iptc-media/politics/government

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Asian Content_legacyaux_8xg

advertising/B2_Automotive Interest 2.5.15_legacyaux_jqs

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Discover Card KWs – INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Ronald McDonald House KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Diageo - Johnnie Walker KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Flu, Sickness & Virus Content

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Showtime KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Apple TV+ KW – INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client Neg KW List: Omega KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/PMI KWs 2021 - EXCLUDE ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Defense_legacyaux_yxn

advertising/B2_Embassy, Ambassador, & Diplomat Content_legacyaux_1ho

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

advertising/Racing and Nascar Enthusiasts

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_International Conflicts & Relations_legacyaux_5l0

client-blocklists/National Instruments KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T Digital Divide  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Samsung 2021 KWs - INCLUDE ANY

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Middle East Content_legacyaux_tde

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Capital Concerts KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: PMI KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/white-house&limit=20

White House

Latest news and coverage of the White House.