Rep. Meijer rips Biden's 'ongoing deception' on Afghanistan after visiting Kabul

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Rep. Meijer: Conditions in Afghanistan have been ‘ongoing deception’

Michigan Republican expresses outrage for withdrawal operation after his visit to Kabul

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan put troops in a vulnerable position as Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., recalled Friday, slamming President Biden on "America’s Newsroom" for his "ongoing deception" on the conflict following his trip to Kabul.

REP. PETER MEIJER: We had many layers of lies, right? You have to see most recently you have the president who is lying about any number of things from the relationship between the Haqqani network and the Taliban to whether or not there is al Qaeda that's present in Afghanistan, to the spokesperson saying that Americans are not stranded, that they can get to the airport and that the Taliban aren't harassing them -- all of which are false. The broader issue, though, is just how long the lies have been going on in terms of the progress of the war, even up until recently with the president, President Biden trying to tell former Afghan President Ghani to lie about the status of those forces to try to boost up his troop morale. So this has just been a ongoing deception for far too long. 

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What I saw was an incredibly tense situation where we were, again, completely dependent on the Taliban for security and not because they wanted to, not because any Marine general or soldier or other leaders on the ground thought that that was a good idea. It was because they simply had no choice. That was the only route afforded to them. This was a vulnerable position, a single runway that could be disabled with a single mortar round in a dense urban environment. We should have not left Bagram. That's where the hindsight is clearly 20/20. But once we saw what we saw on the ground, we realized our troops were doing everything they possibly could, but the position they were in was impossible. They shouldn't have been put in it. And we need to understand why to ensure it never happens again. 

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