GOP-led House panel to hold hearing on Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal
New York PostMar 08, 2023
Active-service members and veterans who served in Afghanistan gave firsthand Congressional testimony on Wednesday about the US withdrawal from the country — describing the death and destruction they witnessed on the ground while imploring Congress to help US allies that were left behind.
Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a marine who protected Kabul's airport on Aug. 26, 2021, when two suicide bombers attacked crowds of fleeing Afghans, spoke about his experience, describing the blast and seeing his dead comrades.
The evidence continues to mount that the Biden admin.'s rushed and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan directly led to the fall of Kabul and the Taliban returning to power. There's no excuse for the unjust suffering the Afghan people have endured since then, all because Biden wanted to score some cheap political points. Trump agreed to a withdrawal plan, but Biden's rushed execution caused a massive disruption that would not have occurred under the previous administration.
The US' disastrous invasion and occupation of Afghanistan under George W. Bush, not Biden's withdrawal, are to blame for the fall of Kabul and the current security crisis. The fact that Afghan security forces crashed immediately following the US withdrawal indicates that the security situation was simply unsustainable, and the collapse was essentially inevitable. There are, of course, valid criticisms of the withdrawal, but most have been unnecessary partisan attacks against Biden — and Trump's role also deserves scrutiny.