Rep. Meijer blasts President Biden for his failed handling of Afghanistan withdrawal
'At every stage, we have underestimated the Taliban,' the Michigan congressman said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) blasted President Biden and his administration for their "failure" in managing U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan which has resulted in the swift takeover of the country by the Taliban.
"It's absolutely been a failure to appreciate what the situation on the ground is and how quickly it can change the underlying assumptions behind our planning," Meijer, who is a veteran of the Iraq war and worked in Afghanistan as a conflict analyst, told Fox and Friends First on Monday.
On Saturday, President Biden announced the deployment of an additional 1,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, after reports that U.S.-backed former President, Ashraf Ghani had fled to neighboring Tajikistan. As of Monday evening, the Taliban was in control of 391 of 398 districts in Afghanistan, and had taken over the presidential palace in Kabul. At a press conference in July, President Biden asserted that the Afghan army was "as well as equipped as any army in the world" and insisted that "The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely".
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"At every stage, we have underestimated the Taliban" Rep. Meijer said, "and what we are seeing right now is the consequences of that failure to appreciate the magnitude of the situation".
BIDEN TO RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE, ADDRESS NATION AFTER AFGHANISTAN FALLS TO TALIBAN
Several high profile Republican lawmakers were quick to lash out at the Biden administration on Twitter. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the administration’s predictions a "complete fantasy."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) called the retreat "ill planned" and argued that it had "humiliated America and put at risk thousands of Americans left in Kabul".
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R) went as far as calling for President Biden and several others in his administration to resign.
On a phone call with senators on Sunday, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, warned "terrorist groups like al-Qaida could reconstitute in Afghanistan...because of the recent rapid Taliban takeover in the country", a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That's obviously a significant concern. Especially given the rapid advances the Taliban have made and just the complete incapability of our understanding of what's actually going on," Meijer said.
A June 2021 report published by the U.N. team tasked with monitoring the Taliban found, "ties between [al-Qaida and the Taliban] remain close, based on ideological alignment, relationships forged through common struggle and intermarriage" and concluded that "it is impossible to assess with confidence that the Taliban will live up to its commitment to suppress any future international threat emanating from Al-Qaida in Afghanistan".
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meijer, who serves on the House committees for Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs, supported the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, however, he says "the execution of that withdrawal has been an embarrassment to this country" and blames "a series of cascading...intelligence, operational and strategic failures" on the part of the Biden administration.
"What happens in the next few hours and the next few days is going to determine the next few weeks, and the next few months" he said. "At this point, we need to be doing everything we can to protect American lives and also ensure that we do not abandon those who served American forces."