Much to the White House's continuous consternation, President Joe Biden's botched retreat from Afghanistan appears to have relentless staying power. Following up on the House Foreign Affairs Committee probe into the Afghanistan debacle, the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence held a hearing April 18, to dig deeper into how Biden's actions in August 2021 have created a growing terrorist threat under the Taliban regime.
The opening statements by Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) and Ranking Member Seth Magaziner (D-RI) starkly drew the lines. Republicans focused on the Biden administration's confusion and mismanagement during the retreat. By contrast, Democrats found reasons to blame former President Donald Trump, mimicking talking points from the recent discredited White House-sponsored review of the departure. Nonetheless, witness statements exposed where the blame should be levied and the consequences of the Biden-bungled withdrawal that have placed Americans at risk to potential Taliban terrorism.
Chaotic Afghanistan Withdrawal Opened Door to Terrorists
"Today I will describe the increasingly grave terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan after the administration's withdrawal from the country in August 2021," Nathan Sales - a coordinator for counterterrorism - explained in his written statement. Describing how the danger is here and now based on the poor vetting of Afghan evacuees and a porous US southern border, former deputy assistant secretary of defense Simone Ledeen pointed out, "A Department of Defense whistleblower has alleged that 324 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan were allowed to enter the US despite appearing on the Defense Department's Biometrically Enabled Watchlist." More troubling, "In fiscal year 2022, 98 people on our terrorist watch list crossed over our southern border that we know of," she added.
Nathan A. Sales (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In her exchange with Sales, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) attempted to minimize the threat by explaining the number of potential terrorists apprehended was minuscule, asserting these people, indeed, were caught. However, during his questioning of the witnesses, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) pointed out that though the Border Patrol nabbed 98 potential terrorists in 2022 and 69 to date in 2023, "I used the figure of 600,000 ‘got aways,’ that's an old figure. I asked staff to give me a figure; 1.3 million ‘got aways’ during the Biden administration. And what the border patrol tells me is you usually have to add in another ten percent." Bishop's point was the far greater number of failures to capture potential terrorists dwarfs those apprehended.
Biden’s Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal Hurt US Credibility
Critical to the United States being able to influence global opinion is its credibility. Counter to the revisionist narrative pushed by the Biden White House, witness testimony painted a picture of an inept foreign policy team failing to plan and execute effectively, which has diminished US credibility in the eyes of allies and adversaries alike. Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) asked Sales if the rest of the world perceived the botched withdrawal as an indication of American weakness. Sales responded:
"I'm afraid they do … It stands to reason if a foreign adversary sees the United States run out of Afghanistan in chaos, and let's be clear, it was chaos. Thirteen dead service members is chaos. Afghans falling from airplanes to their deaths is chaos. If foreign adversaries see the United States humiliated in such a manner, they will calculate that the United States can be pushed back at no cost to them."
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) emphasized to the Director at the Center for Naval Analysis Jonathon Schroden the White House narrative that former President Trump failed in negotiating with the Taliban because he excluded the Afghan government. However, "The decision to negotiate without the Afghan government in the room was made largely because that was the only way negotiations would proceed," Schroden told her. "President Obama had tried to negotiate with the Taliban previously; he had insisted on a precondition that they negotiate with the Afghan government there and they (Taliban) refused." Subsequently, the Trump administration negotiated a successful conditions-based agreement. Since the Taliban did not abide by the conditions of what it signed, carrying out an offensive against Afghan security forces, the Biden administration had no obligation to adhere to the agreement.
What Biden and his national security team created in the disastrous Afghan withdrawal is not going away soon. House Republicans have sunk in their teeth. They aren't giving it up.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
