Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) asked President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resign due to the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan. Under Biden’s leadership and against the warnings of intelligence and top generals, U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country, leaving the Taliban to take over as the remaining Afghan army was unable to stop them on its own.
The U.S. failed to withdraw all of the Americans from the country before the takeover, resulting in the deaths of 13 American soldiers on August 23 by a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport. Although the U.S. sent several thousand troops back into Afghanistan to evacuate the remaining Americans as well as Afghans who had worked with the U.S., they were unable to evacuate all of them by the Taliban’s deadline of August 31.
“After numerous intelligence briefings and reviewing the situation on the ground, it is clear that someone must be held accountable for the chaos that has unfolded in Afghanistan and led to the loss of American lives,” Lesko said in a statement. “From the outset, it has been apparent that the Biden Administration had no plan for a safe and effective withdrawal of U.S. military personnel, American citizens, and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.”
She went on, “After much consultation with my Congressional colleagues who served in Afghanistan and studying of the ongoing situation, it is clear that the issues unfolding could have been avoided and, in many cases, that the poor decision-making that led to this chaos came straight from the top. It’s time for a change in leadership before any more American lives are lost. I call for the immediate resignation of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken.”
It’s time for Biden to go! The situation in Afghanistan is horrific and is a clear failure of leadership on the part of the president. https://t.co/b8QUfpbjma
— Debbie Lesko (@DebbieLesko) August 28, 2021
Former President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban on February 29, 2020, setting up a timeline for U.S. troops to withdraw. However, the agreement stated that if the Taliban did not stick to its end of the bargain, the U.S. was not bound to the timetable. The Taliban began a three-month offensive in May. It captured 15 districts from the government that month. In June, it captured 69 more districts. The Taliban conducted 22,000 attacks between May and July.
But on July 8, Biden gave a speech where he said, “the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.” By July 21, half of all Afghan districts were under Taliban control. On August 10, U.S. officials warned that the capital, Kabul, could fall to the Taliban within 30 to 90 days. But Biden stuck to the removal schedule and by the time the Taliban took over there were only 750 U.S. troops left in the country. Biden sent several thousand troops back to Afghanistan earlier this month in order to help with evacuations.
A reporter questioned Biden after his July 8 speech about being warned by military intelligence. “Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse.” Biden responded, “That is not true.” When asked whether the situation could end up similar to the U.S. pulling out of Vietnam, Biden responded, “There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”
After taking over, the Taliban hung a “traitor” by his neck from a U.S. helicopter, executed a folk singer after banning music, and shot protesters.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) called for Biden to resign on August 24, shortly after Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02) did. The number of Republicans calling for Biden’s resignation over Afghanistan is growing, and includes Trump, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY-22), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY-01), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX-13), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL-19), and Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA-25). Sen. Lindsey Graham called for Biden’s impeachment.
Joe Biden is consistently bad on policy and a danger to our people.
He must resign.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) August 24, 2021
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at the Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
