Apr 6 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued the following statement on the Biden Administration’s report which deflected all responsibility fromits botched withdrawal from Afghanistan: 

“The Biden Administration released a campaign document written for President Biden’s re-election campaign, hoping their blame-shifting and attempted rewrite of history will get Americans to forget what really happened and why it happened.  

“While former President Trump called for the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, it was President Biden who carried out the withdrawal in the most disastrous way possible that left behind our own citizens and abandoned our Afghan allies, leaving them to the mercy of the Taliban. The buck stops with President Biden and President Biden alone. 

“It was President Biden’s decision to overrule military leaders by pushing an arbitrary and politically motivated withdrawal date and then refusing to change it even after the Taliban had already violated all major conditions of the peace agreement. It was Biden’s decision to put the Taliban in charge of the security of Kabul, allowing them to gain access to American weapons. It was Biden’s decision to push a rushed and incompetently planned withdrawal that created a bureaucratic disaster for the Americans and Afghans frantically attempting to flee, a nightmare my staff and I navigated through around the clock to try to get as many of our constituents and allies to safety. 

“President Biden can try to rewrite his record, but he will never be able to erase the shameful stain he put on our nation through his abdication of leadership and responsibility.”

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