Biden rips Cheney for ripping Obama

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pushed back against his predecessor Friday, saying it was wrong to say the Obama administration was dithering on Afghanistan.

"I think what the administration is doing is exactly what we said it would do," Biden told reporters at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Prague, Czech Republic, before returning to the United States. "And that is making an informed judgment based upon circumstances that have changed ... to come up with a sustainable policy that has more than one dimension."

Earlier this week, former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama of "dithering" in deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, endangering forces on the ground.

Biden said a review about Afghanistan left by Cheney and former President George W. Bush was "irrelevant," given the situation as it is now.

"A whole lot has changed in the last year," Biden said. "Let's assume they left us a review that was absolutely correct. Is that review relevant and totally applicable to today in light of the changes that have taken place in the region, in Afghanistan itself? So I think that is sort of irrelevant. Not sort of – I think it's irrelevant."

The changing situation was why Obama "asked me to get on the plane in January and go to Afghanistan," Biden said. "I came back with a different review."

Biden also chastised Cheney for saying the Obama administration committed a "strategic blunder" and abandoned its allies by scrapping the Bush missile defense system for a more mobile version.

Biden said leaders he met in Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic told him they were satisfied that the new anti-missile system will be more effective and supported it.

"They believe that the new architecture is better," Biden said. "I'm absolutely convinced that the leaders of the opposition as well as the governments of all three countries have no doubt about the commitment."