Cassidy calls Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘a disaster;’ White House defends its policy

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Louisiana’s senior U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, criticized President Joe Biden’s policy on Afghanistan as the country has erupted into chaos and the Taliban has seized power.

The takeover by the Taliban, a militant group listed as a terror organization by the United Nations which ran the country in the late 1990s led to Afghans flooding the airport and climbing up a U.S. military transport plane. Some, so desperate to flee the country, held onto the plane as it took off, plunging to their deaths. Seven people were killed in the chaos, U.S. officials said.

More: 7 killed in Kabul evacuation chaos; US sends battalion to secure airport

The U.S. was set to complete it’s troop withdrawal in a couple of weeks. President Joe Biden will address the nation Monday afternoon.

FOX 8 interviewed Cassidy Monday morning about Afghanistan and other topics.

“President Biden’s policy has obviously been a disaster and Afghanistan had actually gotten to a place where for very few American troops, almost none of whom were in harm’s way. But bringing with our American troops others from other countries, so they’re sharing the bill, sharing the responsibility, we had Afghanistan in a stable situation in which Al Quaeda was not coming back, in which women could flourish, in which modern Democracy could take root. Now because President Biden said just let’s pull out fast anyway, it’s all going to pieces. So, I strongly object to what the president’s done,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy defended former President Donald Trump’s actions to remove American troops from Afghanistan.

MOre: US official: Top commander talks with Taliban on evacuation

“So, what President Trump had done had continually pulled down our troop, numbers of troops and pulled them back from frontlines and brought in allies to spread the responsibility and the expense and I think President Trump, where he ended up is where we needed to be, so I do support what President Trump did,” Cassidy said.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the failure of the Afghan military is to blame for the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country. He said President Biden did not want the U.S. to enter a “third decade of conflict” in Afghanistan and thought it was time for the Afghan army to defend the country after two decades of U.S. military personnel being there.

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