Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, who leads Republicans on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, posted a scathing tweet on President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
While Biden’s Aug. 16 speech pointed the finger at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and a failure of the Afghan National Army and Afghan citizens failing to battle against Taliban fighters, McCaul was adamant that Biden’s legacy will suffer from the current crisis in Afghanistan.
"The rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan is an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions on the shoulders of @POTUS. This will be a stain on his presidency, and he will have blood on his hands. He owns this," McCaul said.
After a lengthy silence by Biden as the Taliban expanded its reach across Afghanistan, taking back territories U.S. solider and allies gained in the 20-year war, he returned from Camp David to address the American people, saying the buck ultimately stops with him. He also said, “The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.”
Ghani, who took office as president in 2014, fled Afghanistan on Aug. 15 as the Taliban approached Kabul, eventually occupying the presidential palace that same day.
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council and a longtime combatant against the radical Taliban, later confirmed in an online video that Ghani had left.
“The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation,” Abdullah said, who fought alongside Afghan’s legendary Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance before his assassination on Sept. 9, 2001. “God should hold him accountable.”
Abdullah’s condemnation of Ghani’s act comes as thousands of Afghan citizens who aided the U.S. as interpreters or in other roles are attempting to escape retaliation from the Taliban. On Aug. 16, publishers of The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal sent a letter to Biden including pleas for assistance for many Afghans who assisted their reporters and others during America’s longest war, CNBC reported.
Many contend the Taliban has been poised to take over the long-embattled nation with the announcement of America’s official withdrawal.
“While the end result and bloodletting once we left was never in doubt, the speed of collapse is unreal,” said a former intelligence official and U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan and spoke anonymously to CNBC.
In an interview with Washington Post Live, McCaul updated the status of the airport in Kabul saying: “The airport is now secure. Civilian flights and military are going in and out of the airport. They are prioritizing American citizens first, and then our NATO allied citizens, and then from their our Afghan partners.”
In his role on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the native Texan works on legislation that impacts the diplomatic community, which includes the Department of State, the Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps, the United Nations and the enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act.
As the future looks bleak for many, particularly women, under extremist Taliban rule, Chinese officials are said to expect “a smooth transfer of power,” while Russian Ambassador Dmitriy Zhirnov is due to meet with the Taliban in Kabul, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.