Nether of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senators agree with President Biden’s decision to reaffirm an August 31, 2021, deadline for all U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan. They would rather see every American and Afghan ally who wants to leave the country given the chance to get out, regardless of a deadline.
U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe is the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He feels the withdrawal is being mishandled.
“I was surprised at the lack of a coordinated whole-of-government approach to the evacuation of Afghanistan, but I’m shocked that President Biden is not extending the withdrawal timeline. Worse, he openly states this is a result of demands from the Taliban and threats from ISIS-K. Terrorists are setting the agenda, just as I warned would happen. I cannot believe that our President has watched the human suffering that has resulted from this botched process and decided to double down on his arbitrary, unrealistic deadline — knowing that he is leaving, quite literally, countless Americans, and Afghans who helped us, behind.
“It’s unacceptable that by now we still have no clue how many Americans remain in Afghanistan. I’m frustrated, but not surprised, the Biden administration hasn’t been able to figure out this crucial information — their management of this process has been a failure from the get-go. Once again, the President is ignoring conditions on the ground — he is pulling troops while American lives, and the lives of our trusted Afghan partners, are on the line,” said Inhofe.
Lankford agrees that setting a deadline is not important, it is getting Americans and allies out of harm’s way.
“Biden initiated a withdrawal from Afghanistan that was focused on a date, not the safety of every American and our allies— which was a massive failure to the national security of our nation. The August 31 deadline is arbitrary, and Biden should start listening to the pleas of the Americans and allies who are still trying to get out of the country and ensure no one is left behind,” said Lankford.
Inhofe says Biden should be taking conditions on the ground in Afghanistan under consideration.
“As my colleagues and I urged last week, President Biden must use every possible resource to get Americans out of Afghanistan. If President Biden insists on adhering to this conditions-blind deadline, more needs to be done immediately. Right now, our brave service members are risking everything to evacuate both American citizens and eligible Afghan partners, and I’m working with my colleagues here in Congress to do what we can to get folks out as well. The decisions of the Biden administration leading up to this disastrous evacuation will scar a generation of Afghan women and children — if they are lucky enough to survive. I pray that we’re able to save as many souls as we can within this inappropriate and inadequate timeline.
“President Biden’s decision created this chaos. He will not be judged by how many Americans he got out, but how many Americans he left behind,” Inhofe said.
Folks: How many times must we go through this stuff? Warnings have been issued for months for Americans to get out by a date certain. They for whatever reason ignored the warnings. Trump negotiated the original deal…GET OUT!