but, here's my take after reading the article and the Reuter's excerpt from the call...as well as the overall big-picture context of what was going on at the time...
>It's July and Biden has already announced an August 31 exit...things have been going very badly in the last couple of months...the Taliban is racing across the country and putting ever-increasing risk on that exit date...so he needs the Afghan government...especially the military to hang tough and protect all the exit routes.
>The "perceptions" that Biden refers to are not from the general public, but rather from U.S. and International Ally Security Services who are questioning whether to engage additional military resources, such as close air support, if there is no committed and demonstrated strategy on the part of the Afghan military...on the ground...to ensure that those air support efforts have any effect.
Basically, Biden is trying to get Ghani to do whatever he can to make their military stand and fight in support of the exit process...again, U.S. National Security advisors are seeing a losing proposition and increasing risk if the Afghanis don't pitch in...the "projection of a different picture" is a demonstrated resolve by the Afghani military...and is intended for a private audience of U.S. and International Ally security advisors...who won't want to risk close air support for no good reason (i.e. no follow-up control on the ground by the Afghani military).
>This is not about "PR"...it's about minimizing the real risks to an already established exit date.
Nowhere in the USA Today or Reuter's article did I detect any attempt by Biden to ask Ghani to "lie" about anything...he did, however, prod him to do all he could to make the Afghan military stand and fight, thus enabling the U.S. and others to join in with air support.
But that's just one person's opinion.
BTW, Biden did get over 120,000 Afghanis out...that's 120,000 more than Trump cared to see rescued.