
McConnell criticizes Biden for pulling U.S. troops from Afghanistan: “He ought to have carried out the fitting factor for the nation”
Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell sharply criticized President Biden’s choice to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Wednesday however provided no options for methods to resolve the chaos that has ensued because the nation fell to the Taliban.
“We should not have made this choice within the first place. We solely had 2,500 troops there, gentle contact, no chaos, not a single American soldier killed in a yr in fight,” he advised “CBS Night Information” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell on Wednesday.
“We have now left 10,000 to fifteen,000 Americans behind enemy strains with no plan to get them to the airport to get out. And paradoxically, we’ve got extra troops in Afghanistan now making an attempt to rescue our folks than we had earlier than this unbelievably dangerous choice to precipitously withdraw.”
Mr. Biden has defended his choice to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, although he has acknowledged that the Taliban takeover of the nation occurred extra shortly than his administration anticipated.
In an interview with ABC Information on Wednesday, Mr. Biden stated he did not suppose the scenario may have had a special final result. “The concept that someway, there is a technique to have gotten out with out chaos ensuing, I do not know the way that occurs,” he stated.
Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin additionally acknowledged Wednesday that evacuations of U.S. residents and Afghan allies will not be shifting quick sufficient as 1000’s attempt to flee the nation.
“The president ought to depart no American behind. I am going to depart it as much as him to determine methods to right the error that he made,” McConnell stated. “He took this monumental threat in an effort to pursue principally a poll-tested line that we have ended the longest battle and we’re bringing all people dwelling — a political choice that produced catastrophic penalties.”
As as to if former President Trump, who made the choice to withdraw troops by Could 1, bears among the accountability, McConnell stated he additionally advised Mr. Trump the choice “shouldn’t be made.”
“President Biden did not should make this choice primarily based upon what a earlier president determined to do. He ought to have carried out the fitting factor for the nation. This was solely predictable,” he stated. “Afghanistan will shortly return to precisely why we went there within the first place.”