Top Republicans in the House are demanding answers from President Biden on the missteps that led to the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan following the …
Top Republicans in the House are demanding answers from President Biden on the missteps that led to the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan following the botched withdrawal of U.S. forces and would like to know how the administration plans to address the ongoing crisis. In a letter sent to Biden on Monday evening, House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-Texas), House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) slammed the administration’s “reckless withdrawal,” arguing that Biden’s debacle in Afghanistan endangered allies and weakened the U.S.’s standing on the world stage. “We write to express our indignation over your reckless withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and mismanagement of the preventable disaster that is now unfolding there. The world is watching as one of the greatest foreign policy failures in American history plays out,” they wrote. “Just weeks prior to the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban took back Afghanistan in a matter of days, again allowing Al Qaeda a safe breeding ground within the country. Further, Americans and our allies are in grave danger in Kabul, a massive refugee crisis only continues to grow, and Afghan women and other vulnerable populations await their fate under the iron rod of Sharia law, enforced by the Taliban.” The group lambasted Biden for attempting to cast blame on the previous administration, the intelligence community and on Afghan troops for failing to hold the line against insurgents in a speech defending his foreign policy decision, with provincial capitals falling in just days after losing the support of U.S. troops who spent 20 years in the region. The lawmakers noted that thousands of Americans and Afghan allies remain trapped in the country and face increasing threats to their safety following the political collapse in the Afghan government. “It is appalling that during this ongoing crisis, you chose to defend your decision as ‘right’ and place blame on the Afghans you abandoned instead of taking responsibility for the abhorrent consequences we are watching play out on our tv screens,” they continued.
