One day after the anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Newsmax that the "surrender" to the Taliban while leaving that country last year was "a slap in the face" for members of the military and veterans' groups.
"To have [President Joe Biden] standing before the world and saying this was a fantastic success, and not taking responsibility and ownership for what a debacle this is," Waltz said during "Spicer & Co." Wednesday, "I think this is really a slap in the face — not to just those gold star families, but all of the veterans' groups like [Project] Dynamo and [#]AfghanEvac and Task Force Pineapple, so many of them that stood up to do what their government should have been doing to take care of their buddies.”
Waltz said that even though the Biden administration was able to get 124,000 people out of the country during the withdrawal, there are still 75,000 people there that should be rescued.
"[Biden] said he would absolutely not leave American behind," Waltz said. "They ended up saying they left 100. Now we know it was closer to 800. There's still Americans left there. He said he wouldn't leave our allies behind. Yeah, they got 124,000 out, but they got the wrong people out. Seventy-five thousand of those who stood and fought with people like me. And my Green Berets are still there, and they're being hunted down by the Taliban right now, as we speak.”
Waltz also said the withdrawal also does not mean the end of terrorist organizations there, including ISIS and al-Qaida.
"Sadly, it's not going to stop the resurgence of al-Qaida and ISIS in Afghanistan," he said. "One way or another, my fear is that we're going to have to deal with this again."
He said that the botched withdrawal is also holding down military recruiting levels, along with Biden's COVID-19 mandate for the military.
"I think that was not only devastating for recruiting, it was devastating for retention," he said. "I can't tell you how many soldiers and military members I talked to now that say 'no way' they're letting their kids get into the military under this leadership."
On Tuesday, the Taliban set off fireworks in the capital city of Kabul to celebrate the anniversary of the withdrawal, calling it "Freedom Day," according to a report from Reuters.
"Fireworks with various and beautiful colors are going to be held to mark Freedom Day," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had said earlier on Tuesday, the report said.
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