Local political leaders weigh in on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
With the chaotic removal of troops from Afghanistan taking place an ocean away, local leaders are weighing in on President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation.
The Taliban has once again taken control of Afghanistan amidst the final phase of pulling U.S. troops from the country, leading to chaos throughout cities and transportation hubs.
Scenes from the Kabul Airport saw thousands of Afghans desperate to flee the country in fear of the Taliban, many clinging to military jets as they departed.
On Monday, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-FL 19th District, issued a statement regarding the situation unfolding in Afghanistan.
“Our brave men and women have valiantly served overseas in Afghanistan under now four administrations for nearly twenty years,” he said. “While I genuinely believe their presence in the region has surpassed the initial goal, it is the job of the commander-in-chief to lead our armed forces with an effective, coherent, and safe strategy that keeps our troops safe and the mission worthwhile.”
Donalds went on to criticize Biden and his actions throughout the troop withdrawal process.
“President Joe Biden has completely failed at this vital role as the leader of the free world,” he said. “The Taliban sat back and waited to take advantage of this Administration’s weak and fickle leadership, not just at home but abroad. In the past 24 hours, the security of American diplomatic personnel and the stability of the Afghan region have unilaterally been handed over to the Taliban savages. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, America is leading from the shadows of Camp David and Wilmington, Delaware, and our nation, troops, and the world are witnessing the consequences.”
In a Monday afternoon speech at the White House regarding Afghanistan, Biden said, “When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 — just a little over three months after I took office. U.S. forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in country, and the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001. The choice I had to make, as your President, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season. There would have been no ceasefire after May 1. There was no agreement protecting our forces after May 1. There was no status quo of stability without American casualties after May 1. There was only the cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict.”
Biden went on to say that he stands behind the decisions he made, and said there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.
“That’s why we were still there. We were clear-eyed about the risks. We planned for every contingency.”
Amidst the chaos in Afghanistan and the Taliban regained control, (now former) President Ashraf Ghani fled the country while the country’s military, heavily aided by the U.S. over the past 20 years, crumbled.
“If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision,” Biden said. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong — incredibly well equipped — a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.”
Florida Rep. Brian Mast, R-FL 18th District, appeared on Fox News earlier in the week and shared his thoughts and concerns on a Taliban he fears may be regaining power. Mast is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and lost both of his legs while serving as a U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician in Afghanistan in 2010.
“We have an energized Taliban, a much more well armed Taliban, a protected Taliban because they have all of our armored vehicles, all funded by the U.S. taxpayer,” he said. “And one of the most dangerous things that could possibly be going on — you have the administration saying they want the quickest exit, not the safest exit. They’re totally concerned about optics, and if there’s anything that history teaches us, is when politicians are more concerned about optics than they are about the safety of the troops, the service members… then troops get killed. This ongoing mission is extremely dangerous.”
State Representative of Florida District 77 and Cape Coral native Mike Giallombardo (R) is also a U.S. Army veteran, having served in the Iraq War.
Giallombardo criticized Biden’s handling of the situation and believes that politics and war clash more than they should.
“I think Biden’s leadership on this has been absolutely horrific,” he said. “We end up playing politics with war. From personal experience, I can tell you that politics finds its way into wars far too much. I’m an elected official, and those politicians need to just trust the military commanders and let them make the right decisions.”
He also fears what’s to come from the Taliban forces regaining strength in the Middle East.
“When Biden decided to just pull everything out, he literally left Afghanistan up to the Taliban, and now the Taliban will be radicalizing over the next 20 years, telling kids that ‘we defeated the invaders’ and creating that narrative and radicalizing more youth. Mark my words we will be right back over there again.”
In his speech Monday, Biden asked, if not now, when.
“So I’m left again to ask of those who argue that we should stay: How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans — Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives — American lives — is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?” he said.
“I’m clear on my answer: I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past — the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of the United States, of doubling down on a civil war in a foreign country, of attempting to remake a country through the endless military deployments of U.S. forces.”
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To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com