[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 149 (Monday, August 23, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H4349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PRESIDENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR AFGHANISTAN DEBACLE

  (Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on the 
ongoing disaster in Afghanistan.
  As a Vietnam-era veteran, I have seen the outcome of a poorly 
executed withdrawal, with tragic images of our allies hanging off of 
aircraft.
  The scene that unfolded at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul last week is 
a betrayal to the American military, American citizens, our Afghan 
partners who aided American troops in the global war on terrorism, and 
the Afghan people.
  The catastrophe that we have seen over the last few weeks was 
completely avoidable. We have watched as the Taliban quickly took 
control of the country, released terrorists from prison, and began 
implementing sharia law on those we left behind.
  Just as important, we will have less safety of our homeland, and it 
will have lasting repercussions.
  Madam Speaker, one of the most basic things you learn in the military 
is to never give your enemy the upper hand. We gave the Taliban the 
upper hand when we broadcast our withdrawal plans to the world but not 
to our allies and our coalition partners. The arbitrary and symbolic 
timeline the administration gave to get our troops out is during the 
peak of the fighting season.
  The administration needs to take full responsibility for this 
debacle. They are making the decisions and need to be held accountable 
for those decisions. The President said that the buck stops with him, 
but he has continued to point fingers and blame others.

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