BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the Biden Administration’s After Action Review on its hazardous withdrawal from Afghanistan:
“President Biden continues to deflect blame for his hazardous and disastrously unplanned Afghanistan withdrawal. The reality is that President Biden’s botched withdrawal created one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes.
“In the wake of a poorly planned and tragically executed U.S. withdrawal, the rights of Afghanistan’s women, girls, and minorities have been erased, and Afghanistan is once again a dangerous terror sanctuary – as evidenced by the presence of al Qaeda leadership in downtown Kabul. Many of the Afghans who supported Americans on our missions there are now left to fend for themselves against the Taliban. The Afghanistan withdrawal has done grave damage to America’s reputation on the world stage – a topic that continues to impact American interests in strategic competition across the globe.
“Despite the almost two years since the Afghanistan withdrawal, the administration has repeated the same mistakes in Sudan – another deeply flawed and dangerous embassy evacuation marred by a lack of planning and a policy disconnected from the realities of unfolding events on the ground.
“One of the hallmarks of leadership is to learn from mistakes and take accountability. President Biden has done neither. We owe it to our troops, diplomats, and security partners to do better.”
Background:
In February 2022, Risch published a report entitled “Left Behind: A Brief Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Strategic Failures during the Afghanistan Evacuation,” to give an overview of what went wrong in the planning and execution of the Biden Administration’s hazardous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In May 2023, Risch introduced the Taliban Sanctions Act, legislation to legislation to hold the Taliban accountable with sanctions for terrorism, human rights abuses, drug trafficking, and more.
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