Senator Ernst. (file photo)
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is slamming President Joe Biden’s quick withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
The Republican is a combat veteran and says Biden is haphazardly withdrawing troops with no plan for handling the consequences. “Let’s no forget that the radical extremists who planned and executed terrorist attacks on our soil nearly 20 years ago also slipped into the country,” Ernst says. “Failed board security combine with no forward-thinking or strategy around a potential terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan could lead to devastating consequences for our country.”
Ernst has introduced a bill she says requires military, intelligence, and homeland security branches to take a hard look at the increased risk that a hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan poses to our homeland. It would also require those same officials to analyze and explain to Congress what kind of illicit activities are being carried out at our southern border by terrorist groups and our adversaries around the globe.
Ernst says this is not a partisan concern. “There is a lot of concern and it is not just from Republicans. I am working on many different avenues to of course support our interpreters overseas,” she says. Ernst made her comments in a conference call with reporters and was asked if this was the same as the previous administration announcing a drawdown of troops.
“There is no difference — and I was opposed to President Trump doing it as well. It’s ill-advised and certainly not what our military commanders were recommending,” according to Ernst. “So, I am just very disheartened, and I spoke out when President Trump announced that and I am doing the same right now.”
Ernst says there is one difference between the administrations and troop withdrawals. “The only difference is, here we have a president who is executing it with no plan — as evidence by the interpreters that we are leaving behind,” Ernst says. Ernst says her bill called “The Preventing Terrorism from Hitting America’s Streets Act ” would require an assessment of the potential for Afghanistan to be used as a base of operation for international terrorism resulting from the rushed withdrawal of our military.