On Tuesday (August 24), about 69 US Congressmen wrote to the incumbent US President Joe Biden in regards to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, its drastic influence, and the federal government’s plan of action. The letter was written two days previous to the Kabul suicide bombing.
The Congressmen blamed the Biden administration for permitting the Taliban to take over Afghanistan at an ‘astonishing speed.’ They questioned the ‘unforced error’ made by the whole withdrawal of American safety forces from Afghanistan. The US lawmakers identified how the delay in evacuating the Afghan allies and US personnel have exacerbated the scenario.
“The situation in Afghanistan has rapidly metastasized into Taliban rule with reinstated oppression of women and girls, the repression of civil society, the displacement of countless Afghans from their homes who the Taliban then use force to prevent from fleeing Afghanistan, and a power vacuum that China seeks to fill by increasing its ties to the Taliban,” the letter emphasised.
Screengrab of the letter to the US President
The lawmakers identified that the implications of the Taliban rule will influence not solely Afghanistan but in addition the Middle East. They clarified that the withdrawal of US troops may have each strategic and geopolitical penalties. “Dealing with these consequences means that we must take action now to chart the course for American strategy, while we manage the immediate repercussions of this self-inflicted crisis in Afghanistan,” they said.
Questions by lawmakers to US President Joe Biden over the Afghanistan disaster
The 69 Congressmen who signed the letter had posed a set of great questions for the US President. They additionally sought a briefing from the President’s National Security Team, owing to the confidential nature of a number of the attainable solutions.
Here are the questions posed by the Congressmen:
What is your plan to evacuate Afghan SIVs and different susceptible Afghans like girls, ladies, and former Afghan civil service workers from Afghanistan? Do you could have a plan to guard distinguished girls journalists, students, and workers of distinguished non- authorities organizations? Will you make sure that non secular and ethnic minorities, just like the Hazaras, are additionally prioritized for Pl/P2 visas inside this evacuation sequence?Will you decide to abandoning the arbitrary August 31 withdrawal deadline and persevering with Noncombatant Evacuation Operation till all Americans, allies, and at-risk Afghans are processed for evacuation?The intelligence group has warned that Al Qaida and ISIS-Okay can be given carte blanche by the Taliban to make use of Afghanistan as a protected haven to coach and equip for future terrorist assaults in opposition to the United States. What is your plan to make sure that Al Qaida doesn’t resurge and regain a foothold in Afghanistan? What “over the horizon” operations are you ready to make use of to counter this risk?Given that the Taliban has taken Kabul, does the Taliban now have de facto command and management over the Afghan safety forces’ former personnel, tools, and infrastructure? If so, does this imply that the Taliban possess an air power via this de facto management? What is your plan to disable any air forces that function beneath orders from the Taliban?What is your plan to make sure that extra U.S. and Afghan army tools doesn’t find yourself within the arms of the Taliban? What is your plan to reclaim U.S. army tools that has already fallen into the arms of the Taliban?How many U.S. funded plane have been taken in another country by Afghan pilots, and what are you at present doing to retrieve stated plane?What is your plan to safe Third Country Agreements for transit and resettlement features for Afghan refugees?What is your plan to help Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA)’s air site visitors management features long-term? Are there enough Afghan personnel to keep up the operability of HKIA after U.S. troops totally withdraw?Do you propose to help any free Afghanistan resistance or safety power that organizes outdoors of Afghanistan?What is your plan to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s rising relationship with the Taliban?What is your plan to make sure that American affect within the Middle East doesn’t erode after so quickly dissipating in Afghanistan?Are you ready to help regional allies militarily within the occasion that the Taliban militarize the Afghanistan border? What is your plan to assist to make sure that the Taliban doesn’t destabilize its nuclear neighbor, Pakistan?Do you could have a plan to make sure that Afghanistan, beneath Taliban occupation, won’t ever purchase a nuclear weapon?Since Afghanistan is a Major Non-NATO ally, how will you reassure the United States’ different MNNA international locations that this highly effective image of our shut relationship to these international locations can nonetheless be relied on?Joe Biden faces warmth after Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan
On Thursday, August 26, a suicide bombing close to the Hamid Karzai worldwide airport in Afghan’s capital Kabul killed greater than 100 folks, together with 13 US troops, disrupting the continuing Afghan evacuation of tens of 1000’s of stranded civilians. Under such circumstances, calls had been being made for US President Joe Biden to resign from his put up. Senator Josh Hawley, whereas expressing grief over the lives that had been misplaced, stated that it was time for Joe Biden to tender his resignation.
Senator Marsha Blackburn stated that it isn’t solely Joe Biden who ought to resign however Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and General Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ought to resign as effectively. Calls are being made by different Republican representatives as effectively for his resignation. Anthony Sabatini, the member of the Florida House of Representatives, referred to as for him to resign.
It have to be talked about that the incumbent US President Joe Biden had initially determined to withdraw all of the American troops from Afghanistan by September 21 this 12 months. His administration had prolonged the timeline from May 1 to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 assaults. Halfway via, he determined to facilitate an early exit on August 31 with out contemplating the aftermath.