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Rep. Tracey Mann's Statement on the Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan

August 16, 2021

Rep. Tracey Mann released the following statement regarding President Biden's removal of the United States Military Forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover:

"The world became less safe this week. President Biden's foreign affairs strategy is negligent, near-sighted, and dangerous. 

President Biden willfully neglected the situation in Afghanistan. As our country's sole actor in authorizing covert action, President Biden receives regular and invaluable intelligence information that warns of brewing international trouble well before it materializes. With that kind of intelligence resources at his fingertips, President Biden still chose to mislead the American people and ignore the seriousness of Taliban threats, including the threat to overrun the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. 

President Biden enacted a near-sighted policy in Afghanistan. For more than 20 years, Afghans have enjoyed freedoms secured to them in part by the United States. They were able to attend school, work where they wanted, vote, and live safely. The acceleration of Taliban terrorism is a human tragedy as those rights diminish before our eyes. President Biden failed to recognize these democratic freedoms or pay respect to the men and women who fought for them when he speedily removed America's presence in the region with no real strategy. He prioritized the Taliban's reputation above our country's developments in the region and reduced his Administration's work to pleading with the Taliban.

President Biden has put Americans in danger. The Taliban's ability to redistribute their terrorists across the country in only a matter of days is frightening for Americans when hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are already crossing our southern border. President Biden has left our borders open to American-hating terrorists fleeing Afghanistan and other countries with terrorist regimes. President Biden refuses to consider the safety of Americans 7,400 miles away in Kabul and 950 miles south of Kansas on our southern border. 

President Biden's policies have made Americans less safe, and the ramifications will soon echo across the world even when his own silence is deafening.

We need to bring our brave military home, but only when we have a good-faith understanding of the situation on the ground and a strategically planned execution, including counter-terrorism and remaining special forces. We need a commander-in-chief who knowingly considers every option and leaves no page unturned; who makes strategic, long-term plays for the future of America; and who keeps us safe. A failure on any of these fronts risks the long-term security and credibility of both Afghanistan and the United States of America."

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