Casey, Toomey, Cartwright, Meuser comment on Afghanistan

WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey Monday said the current situation unfolding in Afghanistan is “nothing short of a tragedy.”

Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said “the miscalculation” to rapidly withdraw U.S. forces to meet “symbolic rather than strategic deadlines” has created a rapidly unfolding “humanitarian disaster” that will lead to only more pain and suffering for the people of Afghanistan.

“It’s incumbent upon the United States to ensure a swift and safe evacuation of American citizens, along with our Afghan partners fleeing the Taliban,” Toomey said.

Following reports that Taliban forces have entered Kabul, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, urging him to keep U.S. troops in the city and ensure the safe evacuation of Afghans facing Taliban violence.

“Now that the Taliban has entered Kabul and has taken control of the government, our allies and defenders of democracy in Afghanistan are in grave danger, particularly women’s rights activists and leaders,” Casey said. “This is not the time for the usual Washington finger pointing and pontificating — our immediate priority must be to safely evacuate the Americans, women leaders, activists and human rights defenders who are being targeted by the Taliban.”

Casey said once the U.S. has secured a safe evacuation for as many of our allies as possible, Congress should conduct a full review of mistakes made in Afghanistan over the course of 20 years.

In his letter, Casey called on the Department of Defense to ensure the continued presence of U.S. security forces at Hamid Karzai International Airport to allow Afghans to safely board planes and evacuate. He asked that U.S. troops coordinate with other forces in the region to secure the airport in order to facilitate evacuation plans organized by humanitarian groups.

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, said in the course of two decades in Afghanistan, American forces have diminished al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the Sept. 11 (2001) attack on our nation, along with the threat they posed to our national security.

“In this time, we have also sent hundreds of thousands of American soldiers into harm’s way to fight, while spending billions of dollars working to prepare Afghan security forces to protect their country,” Cartwright said. “In the absence of those security forces’ will to fight, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan was not unexpected, although it is deeply unfortunate still. The president faced a hard decision this year, but he reached it with a respect for the American people’s desire to end America’s longest war and bring our brave troops home.”

In light of Sunday’s events, Cartwright said it is critical that the administration take the necessary steps in this rapidly evolving situation to provide for a safe draw-down of our remaining service members and diplomats, along with all the Afghans who partnered with our military in this mission.

“Equally important for our national security, we need to ensure Afghanistan does not again become a haven for terrorists who seek to attack America and our allies,” Cartwright said. “Going forward, Congress and the White House should work together to make sure we have the proper intelligence and security infrastructure in place to monitor threats to our nation during the instability in the region.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, said the former Ambassador to Afghanistan under the Obama administration, Ryan Crocker, asked how the Biden administration could have gotten pulling out of Afghanistan so wrong.

“We all knew there was a clear and present danger in an unconditional and hasty withdrawal due to the potential for a complicated and dangerous fallout,” Meuser said. “The Trump administration never pursued pulling American troops from the region because the intelligence never supported such action.”

Meuser said as a member of Congress, he supported the contingency plan which was to pass legislation (ALLIES Act) to assist those who fought beside the U.S. in Afghanistan and ensure they have a safe evacuation plan.

“With disaster unfolding in front of us, I would hope the Biden administration will drop the politics and try to correct the problem they created as well we cannot allow after 20 years of securing Afghanistan it to become the festering pot of terrorism that it was 20 years ago,” Meuser said. “We need a massive evacuation effort in Kabul to save our ally Afghan personnel and families, because they are being murdered by the Taliban.”

Meuser said on the world stage, the Biden administration is trying to reverse the Trump administration’s policies on the border, Iran and now Afghanistan.

“Their reversal on the Remain in Mexico policy, asylum claims, and misguided foreign policy has led to a crisis at our border, and the tragedy that is unfolding in Afghanistan with China set to be cooperative with the Taliban when they take control of Kabul,” Meuser added.

“This catastrophe could have been avoided, but the Biden administration had no Plan B for what has occurred. They have no one to blame for this but themselves. May God bless our men and women in the military who fight everyday keep our country and allies safe.”