Tipsheet

House Dem Laughs at Fall of US Embassy in Kabul

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 18, 2021 10:00 AM

Plenty of Democrats have expressed their outrage over the Biden administration’s haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban, but some of them are responding in ways that are being criticized as rather “tone deaf.”

Take, for example, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who laughed about the fall of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

The embassy closed on Sunday as the Taliban took control of Kabul and the rest of the country. The U.S. flag from the American embassy was subsequently loaded onto a plane evacuating Afghanistan.

"The thought that the American embassy there is going to be occupied by the Taliban on 9/11, 2021, the 20th anniversary, what emotions go through your mind when you hear that?" Golden was asked.

"It's a building," he said with a laugh, later adding that he doesn't "feel strong emotions about the embassy."

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The NRCC is also criticizing the Maine Democrat for believing Biden's withdrawal plan was appropriate.

Golden — who served in the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan and has supported withdrawal — said the country should remain wary of terrorist threats but maintained that the drawdown was the appropriate response. He said the collapse of the Afghan army had created a “precarious” situation and that Biden should leave troops at the airport to evacuate U.S. citizens and allies. (Bangor Daily News)