Biden's Afghanistan debacle: Someone needs to be held accountable for this botched withdrawal

Almost 20 months have passed since President Biden’s botched "withdrawal" from Afghanistan. It’s long past time that we hold our government officials accountable for their failures – especially the failures that cost American lives and the lives of our allies.

I was part of the team that conducted the first successful overland rescue mission of Americans from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Against all odds, our team saved four American citizens – a woman named Mariam and her three children – even with the Biden administration working against our efforts. 

While the government could have helped support the rescue and safety of Americans, they instead chose to thwart numerous rescue attempts. But our team would not be deterred from completing our mission. The U.S. government was an impediment, not an ally, but that didn’t stop them from trying to take credit after the fact.

Mariam’s family had been told again and again to go to the Kabul airport, or to other rendezvous points that would have left them at the mercy of the Taliban, because the Biden administration allowed our enemies to provide the ring of "security" around the airport, and American evacuees had to face dangerous Taliban checkpoints along the way to supposedly safe evacuation points. 

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The final time that Mariam and her family were told by Task Force Afghanistan (a State Department-assembled task force) to go to the main gate at Kabul International Airport, a Taliban fighter put a pistol to Mariam’s head in front of her children and told her to leave and not return.

This is just one story we were able to share. Dozens of Americans were made a promise to never be left behind, but arbitrary dates and political optics, not the safety of Americans, were the priority. I could have had 24 more Americans on my plane, but our government chose to prevent our landing and safe air evacuation, even when we had the necessary landing approvals and aircraft designation. The runway was open, time allocated (one hour on tarmac) and the entire team was ready. 

Fortunately, we were at least able to save Mariam and her children. We did this because Americans don’t leave anyone behind. We as Americans are not defined by the actions of our government, but by our social contract to our Constitution and the people of our great nation. 

Private teams of veterans like ours faced government red tape at every instance. Instead of assistance from our own government, we did this alone. Tragically, while the government was busy shuttling unvetted Afghans into our country, they were standing in the way of our efforts to save American citizens and vetted Afghan allies.

Now, it is incumbent upon Congress to hold those responsible accountable for the American lives lost and those who supported us that perished. That’s exactly what the House Foreign Affairs Committee is doing.

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In a recent hearing, we heard the testimonies of other men who helped with the withdrawal efforts. Not only were their mental and physical wounds on display for the nation, but the committee learned about the obstacles they faced during these missions. 

Looking ahead, the committee would like to find out what role the administration played in these obstacles, why these decisions were made, and who – exactly – was responsible for the massive failures of this withdrawal.

America is a shining city on a hill, and preserving our ideals, American exceptionalism, and founding principles should be apolitical. For me, those who were left behind, and the 13 new Gold Star families, our government’s handling of the withdrawal was a catastrophic reality and a failure to America.

As the only member of Congress who was blessed to be part of an amazing team of Americans that carried out operations that successfully saved the lives of Americans like Mariam and her three children, this is personal for me. This is a reflection for all of us who went overseas only to have the administration turn their backs on us. This was a failure by the suits, not the boots, and our brave men and women in uniform should hold their heads high.

To date, there has been zero accountability for the disastrous decisions leading up to and during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. That’s about to change.

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The game of political football played by successive administrations throughout the War on Terror has led to military and diplomatic failures. The U.S. government has undermined its credibility with the American people, as well as with our allies that we made promises to. Our government has evaded accountability, refused to be transparent to the citizens of our country, and failed to uphold its constitutional duties.

The American people deserve better!

While Democrats seek to downplay the tragic consequences of our botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, I lived the actual experience on the ground. This action made us look weak on the world stage, and has led to increased aggression by our adversaries because we have lost credibility as a global leader. As we know, weakness invites aggression. 

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I agree with the famous observation by Robert Gates, who served as Defense secretary in the Obama-Biden administration: "Joe Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

Never has he been more wrong than in his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The American people deserve answers about what went wrong, and my colleagues and I in Congress are going to make sure we get those answers.

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