Leon Panetta compares fall of Afghanistan to Bay of Pigs

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta compared the fall of the democratic government in Afghanistan over the weekend to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. 

“I think of John Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs,” Panetta said during an appearance Monday on CNN. “It unfolded quickly and the president thought that everything would be fine and that was not the case.” 

The Taliban overtook the capital city of Kabul on Sunday after a quick resurgence in Afghanistan following President Biden‘s decision to remove U.S. troops from the country and end the nation’s longest war.

Multiple people have been reported dead at the airport in Kabul as thousands have descended on U.S. military planes there looking to flee the country. 

Under intense criticism for his handling of the crisis, Biden, who had been on vacation at Camp David, is slated to address the nation Monday just before 4 p.m. 

“President Kennedy took responsibility for what took place,” Panetta said of the infamous 1961 incident in which hundreds of Cuban exiles and U.S. forces were killed. “I strongly recommend to President Biden that he take responsibility … admit the mistakes that were made.” 

In a statement announcing the U.S. was sending 1,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to assist with evacuating U.S. personnel following Taliban advances, Biden blamed the fall of the country on former President Trump, who he said left the Taliban “in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on US forces.”