Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is a debacle that has damaged America’s position as a world leader, just like during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Grassley, a Republican, blames President Biden for what he calls “quite a failure for this administration.” “He was urged by his military leaders and the intelligence community that this sort of stuff you see the Taliban doing now in Kabul was possible,” Grassley says, “and he didn’t take it to heart.”
Satellite photos show hundreds of people crowding the Kabul airport tarmac, trying to get out of the country. After seeing Biden’s address from the White House on Monday, Grassley says it’s a “sad commentary” that our Afghan allies of 20 years are being abandoned.
“His speech yesterday blamed everybody but himself and I think he has to take responsibility,” Grassley says. “I think it’s sad that we can’t get out the Afghans that helped us.” Plans should have been in place, Grassley says, to bring those allies to safety in the U.S. or some other country.
“We got 20 years of accomplishment we had, when the Taliban hasn’t been in control, of great human rights for women and children and that could all go down the drain,” Grassley says. “The last two or three mornings of television have been emphasizing the gains made by women will be lost.”
Grassley tweeted on Monday: “Pres Biden said in Feb to world ‘America is back’ He’s right- all the way back to 1975 w American allies clinging desperately to US aircraft to escape after our government broke a promise to protect them.”