WHICH WAS NOT EXACTLY STAINLESS BEFORE: Battenfeld: Afghanistan debacle is permanent stain on Biden presidency.

Biden already looked weak even before the debacle in Afghanistan and now he looks incompetent, too — getting caught off guard with a botched attempt to withdraw U.S. forces and allies from the war-torn country.

“The buck stops with me,” Biden said in a carefully watched speech after he rushed back from vacation at Camp David.

But Biden then proceeded to blame previous administrations — including by implication his own under President Obama — for sending U.S. troops over the last two decades to fight in an unwinnable war.

He could have pulled out without it being a debacle. He just didn’t want to.