Lindsey Graham says Biden has gone from incompetent to dangerous and calls his Afghanistan speech pathetic
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tore into President Joe Biden and the Taliban on Monday, a day after the militant group took over Afghanistan and sent US and NATO forces scrambling to evacuate.
'My hope is that the world will see the Taliban for who they are. This is not people you can do business with. They're liars, they're thugs, and they have a worldview inconsistent with our view of the world,' Graham said in a message posted to Twitter on Monday.
He also slammed Biden's Monday afternoon remarks in which he stood by the US withdrawal, calling it a 'dangerous and dishonorable path.'
'By standing by his decision to withdraw, President Biden is standing by to allow the slaughter of thousands of Afghans who have faithfully stood by America’s side,' Graham wrote on Twitter. 'He is standing by to allow the rise of al-Qaeda, in collaboration with the Taliban, to threaten America.'
Lindsey Graham called the Taliban 'thugs' in a short 11-second video posted to Twitter
He also unleashed on Biden for what he called a 'dangerous and dishonorable path' in standing by the US troop withdrawal
Graham continued the thread to say Biden doesn't have the awareness or judgement to deal with threats to the US - 'a dangerous and lethal combination,' he said.
In his public address Biden told Americans 'the buck stops with me,' despite earlier in the speech blaming Donald Trump for his peace deal with the Taliban when he was president as having forced Biden's hand.
'When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 - just a little over three months after I took office,' Biden said.
'The choice I had to make, as your President, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season.'
Biden remained defiant about the necessity of the US evacuation in a Monday speech before heading back to Camp David
Taliban insurgents took Kabul on Sunday and have reportedly been looting and killing people on their target list despite assurances to the contrary
My hope is the world will see the Taliban for who they are. They are liars and thugs. pic.twitter.com/O3YysPT3IK
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) August 16, 2021
My hope is the world will see the Taliban for who they are. They are liars and thugs. pic.twitter.com/O3YysPT3IK
He also blamed Afghans for letting the situation happen.
'Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,' Biden said.
Graham called Biden's speech as 'a pathetic attempt to shift blame,' describing his remarks as 'The buck stops with me, but President Trump and others made me do it.'
'Not exactly Harry Truman,' he quipped.
Taliban forces took over large swaths of Afghanistan in just days within the final weeks of the US drawdown from the conflict-ridden country.
Graham accused Biden of trying to shift blame for the chaos in Afghanistan to others
Biden set a deadline of August 31st for a full US troops withdrawal, but insurgents' arrival outside of Kabul Sunday morning set off a chaotic evacuation. American diplomats had to be air lifted from the Kabul embassy to the airport.
Scenes of desperation unfolded Sunday into Monday after the Taliban took over every border crossing out of Afghanistan, leaving Hamid Karzai International Airport the only piece of land still under NATO control. Families could be seen fleeing for the airport as gunfire exploded on the streets of Kabul.
Taliban gangs are reportedly marauding the streets of Kabul hunting girls as young as 12 for sex slaves, as militants go door-to-door trying to track down locals accused of helping Western forces during the Afghanistan War and 20-year intervention.
Chilling reports have emerged of Islamist militants stalking the capital city for women and girls after the terror group swept across the country and seized Kabul virtually unopposed, at a speed which has stunned the US, Britain and other NATO powers.
Desperate scenes have been unfolding since Sunday as Afghan civilians attempt to flee through Hamid Karzai International Airport, the only NATO-controlled area left in the country
People struggle to cross the boundary wall of Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country after rumors that foreign countries are evacuating people even without visas
Jihadist commanders are reportedly ordering imams in areas they have captured to bring them lists of unmarried women aged from 12 to 45 for their soldiers to marry because they view them as 'qhanimat' or 'spoils of war' - to be divided up among the victors.
The warlords are also trying to track down Afghans who co-operated with Allied forces after the invasion and toppling of the Taliban regime following the September 11, 2001 attacks, with one video showing a militant shooting at a man on a wall at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
However, female Afghans are feared to be some of the most at-risk people under the new Taliban government. When the Islamists came to power in 1996 after the country's terrifying Civil War, they imposed theocracy and brutalised and oppressed women and girls.
Trump did initiate US peace talks with the Taliban - and excluded the Afghan government - and agreed to a May 1st troop withdrawal and the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
Graham had been wary of Trump's peace plan in late 2019. In February of the next year he released a cautious but conditional statement of support.
'I am very suspect of the Taliban ever accepting the Afghan constitution and honoring the rights of religious minorities and women. Time will tell if reconciliation in Afghanistan can be accomplished with honor and security, but after more than 18 years of war, it is time to try,' the statement read.
Graham returned to his more hawkish stance after Biden took office
Since Biden took office however, Graham had a different tune.
When Biden delayed Trump's original troop withdrawal deadline the ex-president criticized the move but said ending the 20-year conflict was 'positive.'
Graham said he 'could not disagree more' with his ally's opinion.
'With all due respect to former President Trump, there is nothing ‘wonderful’ or ‘positive’ about allowing safe havens and sanctuary for terrorists to reemerge in Afghanistan or see Afghanistan be drawn back into another civil war,' he had written.