Rep. Mike Gallagher joined ‘Fox News Primetime’ to react to Biden's handling of the crisis in Afghanistan.
MIKE GALLAGHER: Well, of course. I think even for the proponents of withdrawal—and I myself—wanted us to keep a small counterterrorism force and keep Bagram [Air Base] as a way of protecting power particularly against China over the long term but even if you disagree with that, there was a way to do this that wasn’t such a humiliating fiasco and obviously surrendering Bagram and pulling out military assets before we had gotten every American citizen out of the country will go down as one of the worst foreign policy mistakes in the history of United States foreign policy and so this president, to add insult to injury, has been lying to the American people for two weeks. He said al Qaeda has been decimated in Afghanistan—not true. He said our allies didn’t have concerns with the way in which this has been conducted—not true. He said Americans weren’t having trouble getting to the airport. Well obviously, we just left hundreds if not thousands of them behind.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The nation's top diplomat is set to appear before the committee Tuesday, after the U.S. military mission on the ground in Afghanistan was ended but fell short of evacuating all American citizens and Afghan allies from the country.
The organizer of a private mission to rescue an American mom, Mariam, and her three children from Afghanistan says the U.S. State Department is now trying to insert itself into the story of her evacuation, despite playing little to no role for much of the rescue effort.
Senior State Department officials on Monday announced that the "U.S. has facilitated the safe departure of four US citizens by overland route from Afghanistan. Embassy staff was present upon their arrival."
But those actually involved in the dangerous rescue operation say the State Department deserves little to no credit for Mariam's escape from Afghanistan.
{{#rendered}}As Labor Day marks the traditional close to summer, President Biden's poll numbers are taking a hit.
Facing a barrage of bipartisan criticism for weeks over his handling of the turbulent U.S. withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan, and with a surge in new COVID cases due to the spread across the country this summer of the highly infectious delta variant, the president’s approval ratings are slipping.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, after meeting with U.S. allies in Europe last week, told Fox News Monday that there was a "palpable frustration" with President Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and that foreign leaders are "shocked" at the result.
The former U.S. ambassador to Japan made the comments after going to the United Kingdom on Friday and on Saturday to Brussels, Belgium, where the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is headquartered, in an effort to reassure those countries of American leadership.
"They said that the first time in history that Article Five of the NATO treaty was invoked was when we came to the United States' aid after the U.S. was attacked September 11, 2001. We came to the U.S.'s aid to show solidarity," Hagerty said he was told by NATO diplomats.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is "furious" over the Biden administration delaying flights with Americans trying to escape Afghanistan after President Biden’s botched troop withdrawal.
The senator from Connecticut issued a press release on Monday eviscerating the Biden administration for delaying flights out of the Mazar-e Sharif airport in Afghanistan following reports of the administration not giving the evacuation flights the green light.
The senator revealed that he and his staff have been working around the clock to "secure the safe passage of two planes" on the airport tarmac carrying "American citizens, at-risk Afghan allies, and their families."
{{#rendered}}Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in the Balkan country of Kosovo, will temporarily house Afghan refugees who don't pass the initial round of vetting, senior U.S. officials told Fox News.
Several Afghan refugees have already been sent to Kosovo, the officials said, but it is unclear what are the next steps to be taken with the individuals who failed the initial security screening, including whether they will be sent back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The New York Times' became the focus of intense mockery over what was seen as a puff piece seemingly praising President Joe Biden's foreign policy, despite the debacle that took place amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last month.
"From the chaotic finale in Afghanistan, a Biden Doctrine is emerging: a policy that avoids forever wars and nation-building, while uniting allies against authoritarian powers," The Times' Chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote on Twitter Sunday, promoting the piece by Helene Cooper, Lara Jakes, Michael D. Shear and Michael Crowley in his tweet and referencing The Times' apparent newly coined term to describe the foreign policy of the current administration.
Sources at U.S. Central command say the Pakistani military has been active in the Panjshir Valley, where the last U.S. trained fighters resisting the Taliban are currently fighting.
Pakistan has sent helicopters containing their special operations troops and have launched drone strikes in an attempt to assist the Taliban in taking the main road into the valley, according to Fox News' Jennifer Griffin.
The Taliban have been actively coordinating with Pakistan, Griffin reported.
{{#rendered}}Auburn University kicked off their football season Saturday with a special tribute to the U.S. service members killed in last month’s suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Thirteen reserved seats at the Alabama university’s Jordan-Hare Stadium were adorned with military caps and pictures of the American heroes who lost their lives in the Kabul suicide bombing.
"These men and women sacrificed so much for our country," Auburn assistant athletic director Dan Heck told "Fox & Friends" Monday. "We thought this is the least that we could do to sacrifice and honor those men and women who did so much for our country."
Alex Plitsas argues there are many more Americans and U.S. allies trying to escape as he spearheads the effort to help them flee following the U.S. withdrawal.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin announced Monday that an American family he has been working to get out of Afghanistan was successfully evacuated Monday morning.
Mullin, R-Okla., recently returned from a somewhat secret trip to Asia to help bring home Americans left in Afghanistan following President Biden’s withdrawal of all U.S. troops last week.
"A little over three weeks ago, I received an email from a friend asking if there was anything we could do to help a young lady named Mariam and her 3 small children (all American citizens) get out of Afghanistan," Mullin tweeted.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
{{#rendered}}A senior State Department official tells Fox News' Patrick Ward on Monday that the U.S. "has facilitated the safe departure of four U.S. citizens by overland route from Afghanistan."
"Embassy staff was present upon their arrival. They were in good condition," the official added. "Taliban was aware and did not impede their transit."
Fox News has obtained an image showing the Taliban's flag painted outside the former U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The flag was painted in the last few days.
The Taliban have killed pregnant police officer Banu Negar outside of her family's home in Firozkah, according to the BBC.
The station, citing three sources, reported that the terrorist group beat Negar before shooting her in front of her husband and children.
But the Taliban claim they had nothing to do with her death.
"We are aware of the incident and I am confirming that the Taliban have not killed her, our investigation is ongoing," spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
Click here to read more on Fox News.
{{#rendered}}Dr. Wais Aria, an Afghan human rights activist whose work centers on treating women and children who have survived trauma from terrorism, war and domestic violence, barely made it out of Kabul with his own family after Taliban fighters assaulted him multiple times outside the airport.
But now, separated from TABISH, the nonprofit he founded with just a donated laptop and built into an NGO with its own office building and 350 employees, he’s already trying to give back in the U.S.
"People treat me as a refugee…burdening the shoulder of government," the soft-spoken but animated medical doctor told Fox News Friday. "But as a human being, I want to contribute something with this country, with this nation – that is the first goal for me."
Click here to read more on Fox News.
The Taliban issued a statement Monday claiming that they have taken control of Panjshir province, which is located north of Kabul that served as the staging ground of the country’s top resistance force.
Photos emerged on social media that showed members of the Taliban standing at the gate of the provincial governor’s compound, Reuters reported. The province was the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in the country and the only province the Taliban had not seized during their sweep last month.
Rep. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who met with officials from European countries during a brief trip to the U.K., said in an interview Sunday that U.S. allies have expressed dismay over the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He told Bloomberg that the general feeling among officials that he chatted with was a sense that the U.S. put allies at risk.
“Their frustration on that end was palpable,” he said. “And the way we withdrew, we left them in a position where they could not fulfill their promises.”
He told the outlet that there is worry among allies that the country—now under complete Taliban rule—“becomes the world’s greatest arms bazaar where our adversaries from around the globe will be able to go in to secure American military equipment that they can reverse engineer, that they can use, that they can modify.”
{{#rendered}}FIRST ON FOX: Americans engaged in the rescue of U.S. citizens, SIVs and green card holders left behind by President Biden in Afghanistan are horrified by what they describe as inexplicable delays from the State Department that are preventing evacuation flights from leaving the country.
The State Department's delays are recklessly endangering American lives, three different individuals involved in the private evacuation effort told Fox News.
Rick Clay, who runs the private rescue group PlanB, told Fox News that the State Department is the only thing preventing the flights he's organizing from leaving Afghanistan.
Coverage for this event has ended.