Members of Congress are quickly reacting to the news of multiple fatalities in Kabul resulting from the suicide bombs, which includes at least 11 American service members.
Ranking Member Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), noted in a solemn statement that "Today’s bombings outside of the airport and around Kabul serve as the official return to rule by terrorism in Afghanistan."
brutal statement from Sen. Risch on Biden/thjs WH - (ranking GOP on Senate Foreign: “The Taliban + its terrorist contemporaries clearly don’t care abt our deadlines or our people left in the cntry. They have what they want, which is an America and a NATO in disarray and retreat.” pic.twitter.com/QA6Jhtswp4
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 26, 2021
"As these bombings indicate, we cannot trust the Taliban to keep Americans safe. The administration should have laid more competent plans and gotten people out much sooner than this. The time deficit we are facing is a dilemma of the administration’s own making, and this emergency situation was avoidable," his statement continued.
The committee's chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), similarly said that "As we wait for more details to come, one thing is clear: We can't trust the Taliban with Americans' security." He stopped short of calling it a terrorist attack though in his statement.
Statement on terrorist attack at Kabul airport from ??@SenatorMenendez? , Dem chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/Kj4x6afya1
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 26, 2021
Such a sentiment cannot be emphasized enough, especially when the Biden administration has relied on the goodwill and word of Taliban.
In closing, Risch's statement also touched upon the stated evacuation date of August 31, which is just five days away.
"Today is August 26, five days ahead of the self-imposed deadline of August 31, and more than two weeks out from the solemn anniversary of September 11, a date that sits heavy on the hearts of all Americans, and one which the president broadcast to the world as our official withdrawal date earlier this year. The Taliban and its terrorist contemporaries clearly don’t care about our deadlines or our people left in the country. They have what they want, which is an America and a NATO in disarray and retreat," his statement closed with.
That August 31 deadline was in the news a lot on Tuesday, which is that sadly negotiations with between the Taliban and the Biden administration to extend it went nowhere. Even more troubling is how Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, admitted it's "very unlikely" that Americans will be evacuated on time.
As Spencer put it best, "Biden Caves to Taliban."