Ted Cruz says Biden must increase urgency, get Americans out of Afghanistan ‘right now’
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called for quick action to bring home Americans still in Afghanistan following a tour of the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base on Thursday.
Cruz said that the withdrawal of American forces there after 20 years of fighting marks a reminder to thank service men and women who fought there, but also said there is “an urgency to get Americans out of harm’s way in Afghanistan right now.”
“What is unfolding this week in Afghanistan is heartbreaking,” the Texas Republican said. “Images that America had not seen since the end of Vietnam War. “
The Taliban, a militant group that ran the country in the late 1990s, regained control of the nation as American troops exited the country, leaving American citizens and Afghan people who aided American efforts in the country without a clear way to escape.
Cruz called for an investigation into the execution of the withdrawal, but said he wants to see increased efforts from the Biden administration to secure safe passage from the country for Americans and Afghans.
Specifically, Cruz called on President Joe Biden to work to get anybody who has passed security vetting into the United States from Afghanistan as quickly as possible and set up a third country for those who aided American efforts in the nation to evacuate while waiting to be vetted.
Cruz added that it’s unacceptable to see people who are trying to flee the country clinging to aircraft landing gears as planes left the airport in the capital city of Kabul.
“Right now, the urgency has to be to evacuate every single American from Afghanistan,” Cruz said. “Not in a month, not in a week, but right now.
“There are thousands of Americans, whether American contractors, Christian missionaries or otherwise, who are in harm’s way, who face potential violence or even murder at the hands of the Taliban.”
Cruz said his tour of the naval air station in Fort Worth highlighted the need to provide support for American troops by making sure they have training, resources and rules of engagement that “enable them to defeat the enemy and to come home safe.”