WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — With evacuations in Kabul resuming, lawmakers want to know how things went wrong in Afghanistan.
“The president said that they prepared for every contingency, but they obviously had not prepared for this one,” Afghanistan veteran and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said.
Moulton is calling on the Biden administration to do more to get Afghans who’ve helped the U.S, out of Afghanistan.
“We had the opportunity to start this earlier. But the bottom line is, we are where we are right now and it is still within the power of the United States of America to save thousands of innocent lives,” Moulton said.
The Pentagon reports the speed of evacuations will pick up, with about 5,000 to 9,000 people evacuated per day. But Moulton says the damage has already been done.
“He’s had to send more troops into Afghanistan than he had when we started the withdrawal,” Moulton said.
Multon says Congress should investigate how things got so far off track.
“It’s our constitutional responsibility as members of Congress to provide oversight of the administration,” he said. “Whether it is a Democratic administration or a Republican administration.”
But Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) wants things taken a step further.
“That’s why I’ve called on this president to resign. We need real leadership or we’re going to see perilous outcome for many years to come because of this mess in Afghanistan,” Tenney said.
Still, Moulton and Tenney agree that the U.S needs to get its people out while dealing with the looming threat of terrorism out of Afghanistan.
“The Biden administration blamed Trump. Now it’s time to lead, now it’s time to take responsibility for this mess,” Tenney said.
