The Biden administration needs to be held accountable for the disastrous 2021 military withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is now again a haven for terrorists, says Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.
"Let's put to bed the myth and the lie that we ended a 20-year war. We didn't end a 20-year war. The war on terror is still ongoing until the enemy surrenders or they're defeated," Miller-Meeks said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Spicer & Co." following testimony Wednesday by a U.S. Marine sniper who told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that leaders ignored warnings minutes before a bombing at Kabul Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, that left 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan civilians dead.
"I vowed in August of 2021 … that we would investigate the disastrous incompetent withdrawal," Miller-Meeks said.
"I asked at that time for the resignations of [Antony] Blinken and [Mark] Milley and [Lloyd] Austin, and I have continued to push for the past two years for this investigation and to hold the Biden administration accountable," she added.
"I'm not just angry. I'm incensed. This was a disastrous withdrawal, incompetent withdrawal. It cost 13 young servicemen and women their lives, 13 new Gold Star families, it cost the lives of our Afghan allies and interpreters. We lost equipment, we lost an airbase to conduct counterterrorism on Russia and China. Afghanistan is now once again a safe haven for terrorists."
Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, 25, on Wednesday during the House hearing on the withdrawal, said he was in a sniper tower at the Kabul Airport on the day of the blast.
He said he warned superiors about the presence of a person in the crowd matching the description of a suspected suicide bomber just hours before the attack but said they did not listen or seek his account afterward.
"Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded. No one was held accountable for our safety," Vargas-Andrews said. "It makes me feel like my service is not valued by this country, by the government."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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