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 long-overdue release of an after-action report on its botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan:
“The White House’s release today of its after-action report on the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is sad and untimely. It is nearly 2 years later and a clear attempt to bury the news during a holiday weekend. My own report on the horrific manner in which the withdrawal occurred was released in February 2022. But, it doesn’t take a report to show that Putin and Xi watched closely as the Biden Administration abandoned allies and failed to act decisively, costing the lives of U.S. service members and many innocent civilians. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, our Middle East partners’ outreach to Beijing, and Xi’s increased threats to Taiwan are all connected to and arise from this debacle.
“In Afghanistan, the withdrawal allowed the Taliban to quickly takeover, and the country has once again become a haven for terrorists. The rights of women and girls have vanished, and too many Americans and our Afghan partners remain trapped there.”
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