WASHINGTON — Political tensions in Washington are at boiling point, in the ten days since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital of Kabul.
This, after House lawmakers received a classified briefing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the collapse of the U.S. backed government, and desperate scramble by tens of thousands of people to leave the country.
“I think I walked away with more questions than I did answers in many ways,” said Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville. “I think what is very clear for all Americans, now that the Biden administration made a political decision against what was good intelligence information that they had, is what was occurring in Afghanistan.”
Republicans are slamming President Joe Biden’s handling of the U.S. pull out and the refugee crisis even though former President Donald Trump wanted to withdraw the troops sooner.
“President Biden continues to try to pass the buck for this decision,” said Rep. Steil. “But there was a conditions based withdrawal negotiated by President Trump and President Biden made the decision and failed on the execution of this withdrawal.”
Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, keeping the heat on the White House, rolled out legislation to halt the president’s troops withdrawal until all Americans have been evacuated.
“This bill will do that by requiring daily report into Congress on the number of Americans left in the country, and the number of Afghan allies that are seeking refuge,” he said on the House floor on Tuesday.
But with both the House and Senate now on recess, the bill is going nowhere. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is painting a different picture of the situation. Defense officials are calling the airlift the largest in history and stressing no U.S. troops have been killed.
“Since the U.S. and coalition forces began the evacuation, to date approximately 88,000 have safely departed from Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor during a Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday. “Every 39 minutes, yesterday, a plane departed Kabul airport.”
Some of those flights arrived this week at Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, after touring the base on Wednesday, announced about 1,000 Afghans are currently at the base and he said officials told him the campus could house up to 10,000. But the majority of his concerns were around the pace of vetting those who are arriving.
“Because this wasn’t pre-planned, this wasn’t organized. We have such chaos now. We have to understand there is a danger to this country and we need to recognize that and we have to take our time,” said Sen. Johnson during a press conference outside of Fort McCoy on Wednesday. “We can’t rush through the process.”
Pentagon officials believe many thousands are still seeking to flee Afghanistan including at least 500 Americans. The White House has no plans to postpone its August 31 deadline to end the U.S. military mission in the country.