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SQUARE ONE? 20 years on and 2,448 lost, Biden’s 'dazed' look likened to George W Bush's 9/11 stare

'Good leaders would get out front and speak to America and the world. Not meet in a conference room,' said one tweet about the White House photo of Joe Biden in a conference call with CIA officers

Looks like President Joe Biden can't catch a break. Just a day after the Kabul breach by the Taliban, there was debate about his decision to withdraw US troops from the country. Biden is now drawing Internet flak for a photo shared by the White House. The photo captures the 46th POTUS allegedly in a conference call with his security personnel over the ongoing Taliban crisis in Afghanistan. Commenting on the president's alleged "confused" look as he stares at the screen during a video call, Twitter is livid at the way Biden is handling the evacuation of troops amidst the Taliban siege of the Afghan provinces. The backlash Biden is currently facing for looking at the screen "confused" is similar to how former president George W Bush was criticized for his "slow" reaction when he was informed about the 9/11 attacks. Visiting an the Emma E Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, Bush was busy in a televised book reading to students when White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed him of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The apparent lack of a reaction caught on camera drew major outrage. The then-president had later explained that his blank face was a ruse to appear calm in the face of crisis.

Biden, although yet to make a statement, is also drawing flak for not getting out there and doing more. Criticism has also been directed at Biden's decision to go on a weekend getaway during the ongoing crisis. The Taliban's re-establishment of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan was firmed up with Afghani president President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country to go to the neighboring Tajikistan on Sunday, August 15. As news of Mullah Baradar set to become the next president of Afghanistan circulated in the media, Biden found himself in a bigger pickle than initially anticipated by his supporters. 

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As the crisis unfolds, POTUS became a target for the White House photo released to the press. The lengthy caption read: "This morning, the President and Vice President met with their national security team and senior officials to hear updates on the draw down of our civilian personnel in Afghanistan, evacuations of SIV applicants and other Afghan allies, and the ongoing security situation in Kabul."

The photo shows Biden seated in a comfy leather chair with an arm resting on an intimidating conference table in front. He seems to be staring at the gigantic screen in front of him, where Veep Kamala Harris can be seen in the picture in the center of the conference video call, as others on the video call included high ranking members of the CIA, some from its 'Doha Station'. This has led many to believe that with the photo, White House has presumably doxxed several intelligence staff, but hopefully not undercover intelligence agents, to the public. Others were too occupied pointing out the wonky time differences on international clocks, which don't seem to adhere to current time differences. This lead many to conclude that an old photo was being recycled for the occasion to show the president in a good light after the negative publicity about his weekend break. 

Critics are now claiming that Biden looks "confused" in the photo as well. Replying to the photo tweet by the White House, one user wrote: "@JoeBiden looks confused and have no idea why he needs to be in an empty room watching TV During his Vacation". Another chimed in saying: "Joe Biden is more confused than a toddler in a topless bar right now..."

One user explained: "Many in communication don't understand, but this photo is never a good look. The text didn't help either. Joe, you need to get on top of this mess, and address the American people today." Others commented: "Good leaders would get out front and speak to America and the world. Not meet in a conference room where they must surely have been asking themselves WTF!?! And the reason they aren’t out front on this is they don’t know what to say."

Calling this a photo a depiction of 'failure', one user wrote: "A mask that hasn’t been worn, a pen in hand turned the wrong way round, to write in a notebook that has just been opened. An utter failure of an administration." Another remarked: "This picture shows the agility, domination and strength of a true superpower at its peak. And it weirdly depicts an old man at a loss in a 1960s style faux leather seat surely wondering what weird show is on TV today..." Some users even tweeted, "Not the pivotal photo you were shooting for. Quite the opposite."

Others urged the president to 'wake up', as one wrote: "I don’t know what is going on with this president. Our border is a mess and also with Afghanistan. Wake up mr President. Do you have capable people that are working for this administration?" Users also mocked the president, writing that his posture looks similar to "That moment of self reflection you have after submitting your dogshit attempt at an assignment 2 hours late" This also sparked the #impeachjoebiden trend on Twitter, with many attempting to "fix" the White House photo by replacing the video call on the screen with scenes from the cartoon 'Tom and Jerry'. Others filled the rest of the seats of the conference table with jokers and cartoon characters to mock the Biden Administration.