Members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation are criticizing President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The move by the Democratic president is drawing the United States’ longest war to a close.
Scenes coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban sweep across the country are dominating the news.
Republican US Senator Mike Rounds sits on the Armed Services Committee.
Rounds says there is no easy answer in withdrawing from Afghanistan, but he says President Biden did it the wrong way.
“Because he decided to identify a date certain in which we would withdraw without regard to whether or not the Taliban had lived up to their agreements or whether or not they were negotiating in good faith. In doing so, the Taliban didn’t have to negotiate. They didn’t have to make deals. And they most certainly did not have to honor any agreements to actually try to work with the existing government in Afghanistan itself.”
Rounds says the president had an artificial date for withdrawal, while not recognizing the situation on the ground.
Rounds’ colleague in the House agrees. Republican Representative Dusty Johnson says Biden missed warning signs.
“I have had a sense that, in the same way that we’ve had troops in Japan and Germany 75 years after WWII—longer—because we believe it makes the world safer. I wasn’t offended by the idea that keeping the Middle East safe with 2,500 soldiers could be of real strategic importance. That being said, I did not criticize either President Trump’s decision, nor President Biden’s decision, to do something different because I think it is a really tough call.”
Johnson says withdrawal from Afghanistan should have been more “conditions-based.”
Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune expressed similar criticism on Twitter, saying, "The calamitous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan underscores the grave error of giving adversaries a fixed timeline. The Taliban bided their time. Grateful for our brave service members who are conducting heroic work in terrible conditions."
President Biden says his administration is focused on getting Americans out of Afghanistan by August 31st.