[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6467-S6468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Afghanistan

  Mr. President, 20 years ago, on a clear September morning, the 
unthinkable happened: an attack on our Nation here at home on our own 
soil. Almost 3,000 Americans died that day, and our Nation reeled. But 
in the midst of grief and fear, there was also hope.
  We saw evil on September 11, but in the days and weeks that followed, 
we saw good as well: the first responders who raced to the scene and 
spent the weeks after combing through the rubble, the heroic Americans 
who fought back against the terrorists on United Flight No. 93, the 
hours-long lines for blood donations as Americans scrambled to do 
anything they could to help.
  And out of the ashes of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and 
the field near Shanksville, PA, came a new birth of patriotism and 
resolve. America might be bloodied, but she would not break. Evil and 
terror would not win.
  The 9/11 generation of warriors and intelligence personnel took the 
fight to the terrorists in the Middle East and around the world. Our 
men and women in uniform dismantled terrorist safe havens, disrupted 
terrorist groups, thwarted attacks, and hunted down and delivered 
justice to Osama bin Laden.
  In Afghanistan, the downfall of the Taliban at the hands of our 
soldiers and our NATO allies allowed a generation of Afghans to grow up 
in freedom.
  I was honored to get to spend part of September 11 with members of 
the South Dakota Air National Guard, many of whom served overseas in 
the fight against terrorism.
  As we marked the 20th anniversary of September 11 on Saturday, our 
soldiers and our veterans should have been able to reflect on their 
successes in the fight against terrorism over the past two decades, but 
I know that today many of them are struggling with the recent events in 
Afghanistan.
  The U.S. disastrous, hasty withdrawal is a stain on our Nation's 
history and a betrayal of the men and women who fought there. But I 
hope they know that their sacrifices and the sacrifices of their 
comrades were not in vain. As I said, their actions enabled a 
generation of Afghans to grow up free from the oppressive hand of the

[[Page S6468]]

Taliban and kept the country from being a haven for al-Qaida and other 
terrorists.
  Despite the grim current situation in Afghanistan, I am convinced 
that the seeds of freedom sown by our military men and women will yet 
bear fruit on Afghan soil.
  I and many others warned that a total troop withdrawal in Afghanistan 
that ignored conditions on the ground was going to be a strategic 
disaster, and it has been. The United States has historically 
maintained a limited military presence in foreign countries when it is 
in our national security interest to do so. And with the presence of 
just 2,500 to 3,000 troops, we were maintaining stability for a country 
that was fighting to find its way toward freedom and democracy and 
simultaneously protecting the interests of our own country.
  All of that, of course, is now at an end. President Biden's 
disastrous decision to completely withdraw U.S. troops on a timeline he 
announced to our enemies allowed the Taliban to bide their time until 
our ultimate departure. American citizens are still trapped in 
Afghanistan, and thousands of Afghans who worked with U.S. troops and 
U.S. intelligence are in great danger.
  And Afghanistan is well on its way to once again becoming a terrorist 
haven. In fact, the Taliban has already appointed terrorists to top 
posts in its new government. There is also every reason to fear that 
government oppression will once again become the norm in Afghanistan, 
particularly--particularly--for women and girls.
  We heard over and over again that President Biden was going to 
restore America's standing in the world and repair our relationships 
with our allies, particularly our NATO allies. In fact, he has done the 
opposite. His Afghanistan disaster is a national embarrassment. He 
failed our troops; he failed the American people; he failed our allies; 
and he failed the Afghans who risked their lives with and for us.
  The Parliament of a key U.S. ally, the United Kingdom, condemned 
President Biden in the strongest terms for his dishonorable withdrawal 
from Afghanistan. The fact that we have left behind thousands of 
Afghans who worked with our country and whom we promised to protect is 
unconscionable. It is a stain on our country's record that will not 
easily be wiped away.
  I hope--I really hope--that the President does everything within his 
power to get Afghans who worked with us and any remaining U.S. citizens 
out of the country as soon as humanly possible.
  In the coming weeks, the relevant committees in the House and Senate 
need to conduct thorough oversight and investigations to understand why 
this withdrawal was done in a manner that further empowered and 
strengthened the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies. We also need to 
discover why there was no effective plan to get our citizens and our 
Afghan allies to safety.
  The scenes of chaos at Hamid Karzai Airport should never have 
happened, and we need to find out why they did. Thirteen brave 
Americans died protecting our withdrawal: 11 marines, 1 soldier, and 1 
sailor. It is hard not to wonder if their deaths could have been 
avoided had there been a better plan in place for evacuation. The 
families of these men and women and the American people deserve 
answers, and the Biden administration must provide it.
  The weeks of August 2021 will live in infamy. The President's ill-
considered, untimely withdrawal and complete lack of an effective plan 
to evacuate Americans and our Afghan allies created a humanitarian 
crisis and the conditions that allowed the Taliban to swiftly take over 
the country.
  The President's actions have helped condemn women and girls and the 
entire Afghan people to once again live under pre-9/11 oppression, and 
he has emboldened terrorists and increased the security risk facing our 
Nation.
  It is tragic that all the good we have done in Afghanistan has come 
to this.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Senator from Alabama.