Members of Iowa’s congressional delegation say they’re angry and heartbroken about the terror attack at the Kabul airport that killed a dozen U.S. soldiers.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst said it was “foolish…to leave the safety and security of Americans and our allies to the Taliban” and it’s time to “use the might” of the U.S. military. Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, said the mission remains the same — to get as many Americans and Afghan allies as possible out of the country by the end of the month.
“This is the fourth president to be involved in Afghanistan,” she said. “President Trump began the withdrawal and everybody believed that’s the right thing to do and we’re going to have to just, you know, deal with how the changes are happening on the ground.”
Cindy Axne. (photo from Axne’s office)
Axne, who said everyone wishes the withdrawal were “going smoother,” made her comments to reporters in Des Moines, before President Biden addressed the country late yesterday afternoon.
Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa said the Biden Administration must ensure “every single American” is out of Afghanistan “before there are more lives lost.” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said completing that mission should be the focus right now, but “the day will come when questions about this disorganized and disastrous exit will have to be answered.”
Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull said that day is now and he said it’s time to “immediately initiate” a bipartisan congressional investigation of what went wrong in Afghanistan. Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion said the withdrawal has been a “colossal failure” and President Biden — in her words — “has the blood of Americans on his hands.”