[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Afghanistan

  Mr. President, now, on a completely different matter, the free world 
faces many serious threats from rising authoritarians to resurgent 
terrorists. Even declining authoritarian powers like Russia pose 
significant challenges. These threats demand clear-eyed leadership of 
the world's greatest power.
  But earlier this week, at the United Nations, President Biden didn't 
offer a rallying cry for the world to confront those threats. Instead, 
he tried to turn the page, literally. He bragged that ``I stand here 
today for the first time in 20 years with the United States not at war. 
We have turned the page.'' He further claimed that ``we have ended 20 
years of conflict in Afghanistan.''
  Well, that is actually news to the Afghans. For them, the conflict 
continues and, for the terrorists as well, continues for them too. We 
may be turning the page, but they are not turning a new leaf. The 
Taliban-Haqqani government in Kabul is just getting started.

  Al-Qaida and ISIS-K are not standing down in their fight against the 
West; neither are Iran's murdering proxy forces all across the Middle 
East.
  Theocratic killers will not simply disarm themselves because our 
President offered scripted platitudes to United Nations diplomats. To 
the extent they care about international norms, it is because they seek 
to destroy them. They will not be deterred by what our President calls 
``relentless diplomacy.''
  Strangely, but fortunately, President Biden's rhetoric does not even 
match the actions his own administration is taking. Indeed, the day 
before his speech, the United States targeted an al-Qaida operative in 
a drone strike in Syria. The President pretends we aren't at war with 
terrorism, but neither his own team nor the terrorists believe that. 
Our unilateral retreat from Afghanistan did not magically usher in a 
truce with terrorists; it just left us much less able to monitor and 
combat them.
  The consequence of President Biden's slogan-driven policy is not that 
America's war is over; it is that America now has to fight with one 
hand tied behind our back.
  Back in April, the President's own CIA Director warned this body--
us--that, after retreating, our ``ability to collect and act on threats 
will diminish. . . . That is simply a fact,'' he said.
  In June, the Secretary of Defense told us that al-Qaida could 
reestablish a safe haven and directly threaten our homeland within 2 
years. This is back when the administration still assumed we would have 
responsible partners in charge in Afghanistan.
  Even then, the Secretary said that al-Qaida would reestablish a safe 
haven and threaten our homeland within 2 years. Certainly that timeline 
has now moved significantly up. So the question is, Where do we go from 
here? What is next?
  The first step is to get some answers and create some accountability. 
As I have said before, the administration must answer some tough 
questions about both past failures and future plans.
  Secretary Austin needs to explain why he supported a policy that by 
his own admission would allow al-Qaida to reestablish a safe haven. And 
we need an updated assessment of the threat we face now that 
terrorists, rather than our partners, control Afghanistan.
  Oh, but that is just a start. America must reestablish the credible, 
relentless threat we once posed to terrorists in Afghanistan and 
beyond. The Taliban's shameful reclamation of Kabul has emboldened 
America's enemies all around the world. We cannot let them bank a 
propaganda victory. We must recapture the initiative. We can't retake 
the initiative with empty talk. This will take arrests, and it will 
take strikes--visible demonstrations of our resolve.
  We must also repair our credibility with our allies and partners. 
America's resolve to lead the War on Terror fight must be undoubted. 
This is a collective effort that will take support and contributions 
from partners all around the world, deeper intelligence sharing, joint 
efforts to prevent extremists from traveling to safe havens in the 
first place, and a willingness to repatriate and prosecute their 
citizens when they go abroad to conduct terrorism.
  We have to get past the radical left's passion for cutting our 
defense budget down to the bone. President Biden already proposed to 
cut defense spending after inflation. I understand some House Democrats 
want to impose even further cuts from that number.
  Just this week, to appease a vocal fringe on the far left, House 
Democratic leadership left defensive assistance for our ally Israel and 
their Iron Dome on the cutting room floor. A few far-left radicals get 
veto power over purely defensive assistance for Israel? This is 
madness. So are the left's efforts to cut back the authorities that our 
military and intelligence professionals use to protect our homeland. So 
is the continued talk about emptying Guantanamo Bay, talk about that. 
For goodness' sake, we just saw four of the five terrorists whom 
President Obama sprung from Gitmo take up senior positions in the 
Taliban government--formally in Gitmo; now helping to run the 
government in Afghanistan. What a combined legacy. The Obama-Biden 
administration let those terrorists out of prison, and the Biden-Harris 
administration let them retake an entire country.
  No, global wars do not simply end because a President's speechwriter 
says so. Wars end when America's enemies no longer threaten us. 
Unfortunately, the Biden administration's decisions to date have not 
brought that victory any closer.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.