At Best, 13 American Heroes Are Dead. At Worst, Treason

On August 31, news broke about a phone call between President Joe Biden and the now-exiled President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani. Reports state that President Biden pressured Ghani to publicly manipulate intelligence about the Taliban’s rampage across Afghanistan.  If televisions had broadcast images of the Taliban advancing, President Biden’s dream of a photo op celebrating Afghanistan withdrawal on September 11th would have been crushed, so he tried to get the Afghanistan president to help him keep up appearances.

If reports of this call are true, it begs the question: did it meet the Constitutional standard of treason, adhering to the enemy during a time of war, giving aid and comfort?  

The first qualification set forth by the treason clause is “adhering to the enemy” in a time of war.  The United States is still fighting the War on Terror.  The Taliban is our sworn enemy.  In addition, we already have multiple examples of President Biden “adhering” to that enemy.  Look no further than his decision to hand over a list of every American and vulnerable Afghan trying to pass Taliban checkpoints to get to the airport in Kabul.  At the exact moment that the Taliban was hunting those people, President Biden handed them a map.  

Despite the Administration’s attempts to convince the world that the Sharia law-ruling, woman-stoning, jihad-waging Taliban has turned over a new leaf and that they’re “good terrorists,” they’re not.  The fact remains that they are the same terrorists that our troops were killing, right up to the point that they intimidated President Biden into taking their orders.  The President and his cabinet are leading the PR campaign for a terrorist organization - is that “comfort”? 

Now, let’s discuss the phone call.  If reports are accurate, President Biden asked President Ghani to “change the perception” and told him that “whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”  As I have said countless times in recent weeks, President Biden’s primary concern is the optics, and when optics are more important than the tactical and strategic objectives, America’s war fighters get killed.   

President Biden has unfortunately proved my point: by publicly downplaying the strength of the Taliban in the days leading up to Afghanistan’s collapse, the U.S. and our allies were left stunned and scrambling to get their forces to safety.  If true, the President was working directly against America, preventing them from getting accurate and actionable intelligence on the situation in Afghanistan.  Such an act gave the Taliban the upper hand as they marched on Kabul - is that “aid”?

In addition, by encouraging our Afghan partners to deliberately mischaracterize the situation on the ground, President Biden impeded the abilities of the countless intelligence agencies and analysts who rely on that information.  Those analysts are attempting to make the best possible recommendations to the commanders and generals who are, in turn, making life-and-death decisions for the troops and civilians on the ground.  Without accurate information, their job gets that much harder, and our troops face that much more danger.

Under the treason clause, any act that deliberately weakens the ability of the United States to resist and attack its enemies is considered “aid and comfort.”  If this phone call led to false intelligence reports for our forces, was it more difficult for the U.S. to resist our enemy?

The conversation between President Biden and President Ghani raises serious questions and the American people deserve answers.  It follows a deeply concerning pattern that has emerged over the past few weeks: President Biden, along with his advisors, have made decision after decision that has resulted in wins for the Taliban.  Congress must find those answers and hold President Biden accountable - especially if he has committed treason. 

Congressman Brian Mast represents Florida’s 18thCongressional District.  Prior to his election to Congress, he served in the U.S. Army for over 12 years, earning medals including The Bronze Star Medal, The Army Commendation Medal for Valor, The Purple Heart Medal, and The Defense Meritorious Service Medal.  While deployed in Afghanistan, he worked as a bomb disposal expert under the elite Joint Special Operations Command. The last improvised explosive device that he found resulted in catastrophic injuries, which included the loss of both of his legs.