Daily US Times: US Vice President Kamala Harris is in high-stakes visit to Southeast Asia this week. Her visit comes amid the first major foreign policy crisis of the Biden administration, the messy withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. She was on the receiving end of questions Monday about the Afghanistan crisis.
Vice President Harris’ stops in Singapore and Vietnam have assumed outsized importance for their potential to reassure foreign leaders of the US’ continued commitment to its allies.
Particularly in Vietnam where she heads Tuesday — as images of the 1975 fall of Saigon have stirred comparisons to US evacuations in Kabul –Ms Harris will work to maintain her focus on Asia, a region President Biden wants to prioritize as he ends 9/11-era conflicts.
Yet on Monday, journalists beamed in on a monitor from another room to pepper the US VP on the tumultuous withdrawal of Kabul as she stood alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon in a joint press conference after their first bilateral meeting, providing a first look at how Ms Harris is approaching the unfolding crisis.
Harris said: “There’s no question there will be, and should be, a robust analysis of what has happened.”,
In April, Kamala Harris said that she was among the last advisers president Biden consulted before making his decision of Afghanistan exit, and she has joined the multitude of briefings he’s received on the matter over the past week.
Experts say this will be challenging for Ms. Harris to cover the situation in foreign soil.
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