Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:40 pm
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) used her questions during a Senate hearing on Afghanistan to gut the main Republican criticisms of Biden.
Video:
Sen Elizabeth Warren gets to the heart of the problem in Afghanistan. Trump shut down the SIV program, and Gen. Milley says it was a "certainty" that US troops would have been attacked and killed if they would have stayed in Afghanistan longer. pic.twitter.com/RlnUFDgTBY
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 28, 2021
Transcript:
Sen. Warren: Hard to get everyone out. One problem, of course, there were so many Afghan SIV applicants in Kabul waiting to be evacuated because the Trump administration had essentially shut the program down. Withdrawal was a massive operation conducted in a chaotic, unpredictable environment. Some people have criticized you for leaving on August 31st. But I just want to explore that for a minute. General Milley, once the Afghan government collapsed in August, would you say that staying past the date of their collapse would’ve exposed the force on the ground to substantial additional risk? “
Gen. Milley: Yes. That is exactly what we assess if we stayed past the 31st, the risk to U.S. Military casualties, the risk to the mission and most importantly the risk to the American citizens that are still there was going to very high levels. We thought there was a level of risk that was unacceptable.Â
Sen. Warren: Just so I’m sure, and everyone has this on the record. If we stayed another week or two or three, then it is likely there would have been another attack that killed American service members. Is that what you are saying?Â
Gen. Milley: I would say that is a certainty.
Trump Created The SIV Mess, And Republicans Wanted Biden To Send More Troops To Die
The Republican criticism of Biden essentially boils down to complaining that he didn’t clean up Trump’s Special Immigrant Visa mess, and he wouldn’t send more young women to face certain death in Afghanistan.
The American people see through what Republicans are spinning, and that is why the vast majority of them still supported leaving after the terrorist attack at the Kabul Airport.
Sen. Warren got to the heart of the matter, and her insightful questions cut the Republican criticism of Biden on Afghanistan down to size.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
