The collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghanistan government over the last week is one of the biggest crises the United States has faced in decades.
And Vice President Kamala Harris can’t be found anywhere.
Rumors indicate there is a growing “shade war” — slang for high tensions — between the vice president’s office and the White House, including a report that Harris screamed expletives about her role in the Afghanistan fiasco.
And critics have noted that Harris hasn’t made a single public appearance since the Taliban’s lightning blitz destroyed 20 years of counter-insurgency efforts by the United States and cut off nearly 10,000 Americans.
Harris hasn’t made a public appearance in six days — and counting.
Insiders don’t expect the vice president to hold a press conference addressing the situation any time soon, either.
One of the few things Harris does have planned is to leave the country.
She is heading to Vietnam and South East Asia for an international trip.
This trek marks Harris’s second international trip as vice president. She has previously traveled to Latin America to investigate the causes of illegal immigration — a trip that was marred by controversy. Some critics took issue with her statement to the Guatemalans.
Fox News called her planned trip to Vietnam “the worst photo-op for an American in that country since Jane Fonda donned a helmet there in 1972″ because of the timing with Afghanistan’s fall.
Harris has refused to cancel the trip.
“There are no planned changes to the Vice President’s travel,” the White House said on Wednesday. “She is being briefed regularly on the situation in Afghanistan and she and her national security team are actively engaged in White House and interagency discussions. While in Southeast Asia, she will continue to be briefed regularly and will remain actively engaged.”
“Given our global leadership role, we can and we must manage developments in one region while simultaneously advancing our strategic interests in other regions on other issues,” the White House told Fox News.
“The United States has many interests around the world, and we are well-equipped to pursue them all at the same time.”
The vice president’s continued missteps have been noticed by voters. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, only 43 percent of Americans believe Harris is qualified to run the United States. That’s down from April’s high of 49 percent.
A full 55 percent of those surveyed said they do not believe that she is qualified.
Of those that don’t believe she’s qualified, 47 percent of likely voters said she is “not at all qualified.”
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The Horn Editorial Team