U.S. Representative Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-Ind.) released the following statement on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul and President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Two years ago today, Taliban forces entered Kabul and took control of Afghanistan’s capital. The Taliban’s capture of the city began a chaotic weeks-long exit of U.S. forces from Afghanistan that saw helicopter evacuations from the embassy in Kabul – despite President Biden’s assertion that there would be ‘no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy,’ Afghans so desperate to escape the Taliban that they were clinging to the outside of U.S. military aircraft as they took off from the airport, and ultimately the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers at the hands of a suicide bomber at the airport gate. Our chaotic exit also resulted in hundreds of Americans being abandoned in Afghanistan for months and over $7 billion in taxpayer-funded military hardware being left behind to fall into the hands of the Taliban,” said Dr. Bucshon.
“None of this had to come to pass had President Biden’s plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan been based on military conditions on the ground instead of being based on an artificial political timeline of pulling all U.S. forces out of the country ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Rather than own up to the mistakes made, President Biden and his administration have done everything they can to deflect blame and avoid taking responsibility for our failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the Commitment to America, House Republicans promised the American people a government that’s accountable and that is why House Republicans are using every tool at our disposal to hold President Biden and his administration accountable for their failures,” concluded Dr. Bucshon.
