Aleged National Guard attack reveals Biden’s Afghan withdrawal costs

Former President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan four years ago was a grave national humiliation that betrayed the men and women of our armed forces, especially those who bravely served in the war-torn country for nearly two decades.

Unfortunately, the cost of this self-inflicted tragedy continued long after our troops left Afghanistan. Recently, an Afghan citizen who came to America during the Biden administration in Texas was accused of making a bomb, carrying out a suicide attack, and threatening to kill Americans and “infidels”.

AFGHANI PERSON ARRESTED BEFORE DC SHOOTINGS IS FEDERALLY CHARGED WITH THREATENING A TERRORIST ATTACK

This incident, plus the heinous attack on two members of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C., unfortunately revealed that the consequences of this hasty, reckless, and poorly planned departure continue to put the security of our homeland and the safety of Americans at risk.

First let me offer my prayers and support to the families, loved ones, and fellow soldiers of U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Prayers for Andrew Wolfe and Staff Sgt. Wolfe’s recovery continues. The honor they brought to our country and their home state of West Virginia will not be forgotten.

But this tragedy, which allegedly occurred at the hands of an improperly vetted Afghan citizen who arrived in America during the chaos of the withdrawal, was entirely preventable.

KILLINGS OF NATIONAL GUARDS RESTARTED THE IMMIGRANT WAR IN CONGRESS WHILE REPUBLICANS DEMAND COMPREHENSIVE REFORMS

President Donald Trump predicted this during his first term in office.

“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” Trump said in a speech while presenting his Afghanistan strategy on August 21, 2017.

He continued: “As we know, America hastily and mistakenly withdrew from Iraq in 2011. As a result, our hard-earned gains fell into the hands of terrorist enemies. Our soldiers watched as the cities they fought for, shed blood to liberate, and won were invaded by a terrorist organization called ISIS. The vacuum we created by leaving too soon provided a safe environment for ISIS to spread, grow, recruit, and launch attacks. We cannot repeat the mistake our leaders made in Afghanistan. In Iraq.”

THE THIRD AFGHAN NATIONAL FROM THE BIDEN ERA PROGRAM WAS ARRESTED BY ICE AGENTS IN VIRGINIA A WEEK LATER: DHS

Unfortunately, because of Biden, we repeated Iraq’s mistakes. But this time, the Biden administration has added another self-imposed challenge by failing to vet the more than 190,000 Afghan citizens who have settled in America since the withdrawal.

Let’s be clear about something: The standard used to review Afghan citizens to work with the CIA and our military in Afghanistan is completely different from the standard of review that should be used when allowing Afghan citizens to come to America and live in our communities.

Therefore, since the beginning of the withdrawal disaster, I have called for stricter vetting standards and fought against universal citizenship for unvetted Afghan citizens.

TRUMP FREEZED AFGHAN VISAS AFTER DC SHOTS — QUIETLY LEFT LAND ATTACKS IN VENEZUELA IN HONOR

As I wrote at the time, “There is no doubt that some people succeeded in evacuation flights amid chaos. … Proper vetting takes months. During the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, vetting took hours, days, or weeks; in some cases it did not occur at all. This is a completely inadequate and reckless way of screening people from a country with poor record keeping and a long history of extremism and terrorism.”

“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” Trump said in a speech while presenting his Afghanistan strategy on August 21, 2017.

Comprehensively studying a country like Afghanistan is a complex and challenging process. This is not the same as calling one of our allies to request a specific person’s records or reaching out to the local law enforcement agency to do a background check on a potential job candidate. Further complicating the matter was the fact that the Afghan government had collapsed at the time and handed over control to the United States’ arch-enemy, the Taliban.

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In the months following the withdrawal, more than 70,000 Afghans entered the United States without required background checks, posing a national security threat within our borders that continues to this day.

Underscoring this point, a February 2022 report by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General found that the Biden administration had failed to use a biometric database necessary to properly vet evacuated Afghans. A retrospective review conducted by the US Army (which maintains the database) found that most evacuees “potentially significant security concerns” This includes “individuals whose fingerprints were latent on improvised explosive devices” as well as “individuals known or suspected to be terrorists.”

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There is no doubt that these evacuations were reckless acts of haste intended to cover up Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, ultimately creating a dangerous ticking time bomb within our borders.

The latest tragedy befalling innocent American soldiers and the arrest in Texas should serve as an urgent wake-up call to put our house in order. This starts with ensuring that everyone in our country is law-abiding individuals who want to help keep America safe, strong, prosperous, and free for themselves, their families, and their fellow Americans.

CLICK HERE TO READ SEN’S NEWS. TOM COTTON