Some Texas lawmakers from both parties say President Joe Biden is making a mistake by withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as the Taliban advances on the capital of Kabul. The president announced a timeline for withdrawal last month with the military mission in Afghanistan ending August 31.
The Taliban was driven out of Kabul after the American-led invasion after the September 11 attacks; the Taliban has since seized control of the city.
"It's an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. This is going to be a stain on this president and his presidency," says Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Austin). "I think he's going to have blood on his hands for what they did."
McCaul is the ranking Republican on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. He made the comments on CNN's State of the Union.
"They totally blew this one. They completely underestimated the strength of the Taliban," McCaul says.
"They didn't listen to the intelligence community. Every time I got an [intelligence committee] briefing, it was probably the grimmest assessment I had ever heard on Afghanistan. Yet, the State Department, Secretary Blinken, the politicos in the White House want to paint this rosy picture that, somehow, these peace talks in Doha were going to deliver a rabbit out of the hat at the eleventh hour."
Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (D-McAllen) tweeted, "There's no way to hide it. The situation in Afghanistan is another shame on this admin. Withdrawal was never going to be easy but it didn't need to come to this. The US must do everything in its power to help our partners & allies to safety & protect our national security."
McCaul said a return to Afghanistan may be necessary, saying the Taliban could threaten allies and the U.S. homeland.
President Joe Biden announced a timeline to withdraw troops July 8.
"The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart," the president said then.
The president said the United States had completed its mission in Afghanistan, saying, "The United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States. We achieved those objectives."
Biden said the U.S. did not go to Afghanistan to "nation build." Saturday, he did approve a temporary deployment of thousands of troops to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel." He said the troops would also ensure a "safe evacuation" of Afghans at "special risk" from the Taliban.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD
