Today marks the one-year anniversary of Pres. Biden's infamous and disastrous decision to withdraw U.S. military troops from Afghanistan. The hasty evacuation left behind billions of dollars in equipment for the reemergent Taliban to take for themselves. What's worse is that a large number of Americans and Afghan allies remain in hostile territory.
On Monday, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL-17) released a statement condemning the Biden administration's move one year later.
"Today we mark the one year anniversary of the Fall of Kabul, when the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan and undid decades of U.S. efforts in the region," Steube begins. "America is just as angered and frustrated at Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal today as we were the day it occurred." Steube then adds that the Biden administration has attempted to avoid accountability "every way possible," and that the Dept. of State sought to obstruct Congressional oversight.
Similarly at the time, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL-21) stated that, despite 20 years of training and provision of weaponry, "the Afghan military failed to defend their people from the Taliban takeover," placing the blame more on Afghanistan rather than the US's botched withdrawal.
More disgustingly, as The Floridian reported last year, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to allow Republican Congressmen to read the names of the 13 US service members killed in a Kabul suicide attack. Furthermore, Cory Mills (R) accused the Biden administration of "covering up" the true number of Americans killed in the same attack. Mills based his claim on personal experience, as he had personally led an exfiltration team into Afghanistan to rescue four American citizens.
Steube blasts Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Monday press release, whom he says cannot "seem to get a number straight on how many Americans are still stranded without U.S. assistance."
The brief statement concludes with a commitment to ensure that "every question is answered, every American is safe at home, every piece of U.S. equipment is recovered or destroyed, and the Biden Administration is held fully accountable for their dereliction of duty."
The Afghanistan withdrawal is a key point in the Republican Party's overall campaign strategy in this year's midterm elections.
