Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) criticized President Joe Biden for honoring his promise to the Taliban for the U.S. military to leave Afghanistan by August 31 but not honoring his promise to American citizens that the U.S. military would not leave until all of them were evacuated from the country.
Cotton said Vice President Kamala Harris coming to the Senate on Tuesday for something other than breaking a tie in the chamber was unusual.
.@VP Harris took no questions — including about fate of Americans still in #Afghanistan — while leaving Senate where she presided as the chamber passed a bill to assist Americans repatriating from Afgh. pic.twitter.com/GCGChLWHte
— Michael Mathes (@MichaelMathes) August 31, 2021
"I think this is an example of the Biden administration recognizing this is a debacle that will reverberate for many, many years to come not just in Afghanistan but in relation to our adversaries around the world," Cotton said. "They’re trying to put a happy face on and trying to spin it for domestic political purposes. Most Americans realize Joe Biden is solely responsible for the fiasco we’ve seen in the last three weeks in Afghanistan."
The Biden administration and senior Department of Defense leadership have tried to spin the fact American citizens were left behind in Afghanistan by stating the number is only in the "very low hundreds." They insist the effort to get American citizens and Afghans out of the country is not over because the State Department will now take over that mission.
"It’s nice to be heartbroken. Better committed to getting everyone out like Joe Biden said he was. In fact, Joe Biden promised the Taliban America would leave by August 31. Joe Biden promised American citizens in Afghanistan he would stay until he got them out. When the rubber hit the road, Joe Biden kept his promise to the Taliban and broke his promise to Americans," Cotton said.
Cotton and his office were working to get Americans out of Afghanistan during the evacuations since those in the country said they were not receiving much help from the State Department.