The United States has been humiliated by Islamic radicals who have killed and maimed American for 20 years toward the end of restoring their medieval rule to Afghanistan, and the president of the United States can’t call them out — because he’s so dependent on them.

Biden needs the Taliban right now. They control the fate of his presidency, and have the power to determine whether he gets out of this to fight another day, or whether he’s the next LBJ or Jimmy Carter, whose presidencies were destroyed by the Vietnam War and the Iranian hostage crisis, respectively.

If the Taliban, or a faction of them, decides to take American hostages or, say, crater the runway at the Kabul airport, the current debacle would instantly become several magnitudes worse.

So Biden is very forceful at rebutting his critics, but gentle as a kitten when talking about the Taliban, who, in Biden’s statements, have achieved a status almost like that of a partner.