Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) On Monday said he is “furious” by the Biden administration’s delays in getting Americans out of Afghanistan.
“I have been deeply frustrated, even furious, by the delay and inaction of our government,” the Democratic senator said in a statement.
“There will be plenty of time to demand accountability from the inexcusable bureaucratic bureaucracy that has trapped so many of our Afghan allies,” Blumenthal added. “For now, my singular goal remains to get these planes into the air and safely to our Doha air base, where they have already been allowed to land.”
Doha, Qatar, is where some refugees from Afghanistan are sent before they can come to the United States.
Rep. Michael McCaul
Michael Thomas McCaul: The State Department says it has no “reliable means” to confirm whether the Taliban are preventing Americans from leaving Afghanistan on Sunday. US Weapons MORE (R-Texas), the top Republican in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in an interview Sunday criticized the administration on the evacuations of Americans and Afghan allies from the country, which the Taliban took over in August.
He said there were planes with U.S. citizens and Afghan allies at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport outside of Kabul that the Taliban would not let out.
“In fact, we have six planes at Mazar-i-Sharif airport, six planes, with American citizens as I speak, also with these interpreters, and the Taliban are holding them hostage to the demands right now,” he said. McCaul on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace
Christopher (Chris) Wallace, director of the Harvard Institute of World Health, says “we’ll see more variants.” McCaul says the situation in Afghanistan is “worse” than before 9/11 because the Taliban have weapons in the United States The FEMA administrator says the impacts of climate change are “the crisis” of our generation “MORE.
The planes have been landed “for the past two days” and McCaul said it is becoming a “hostage situation,” with the Taliban wanting full U.S. recognition before citizens leave.
“We know the reason why the Taliban want something in return. In reality, Chris, it becomes a hostage situation where they will not allow American citizens to leave until they get full recognition from the United States of America.” said McCaul.
Blumenthal says his staff, along with a coalition of “NGOs, former military and journalists “have been working” to ensure the safe passage of two planes “from the airport.
The State Department said Sunday it did not have one “Reliable media” to confirm whether the Taliban prevented planes with U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from leaving the country.
Blumenthal said he hopes the White House and State Department will “do everything they can” to bring home U.S. citizens and Afghan allies who were left behind during evacuation efforts.
“These are American and Afghan citizens who risked everything for our country. We can’t leave them behind, “he added.
The Biden administration has announced its efforts to eliminate Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.
More than 124,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrew its troops from the country on 31 August. Most of the evacuees were Afghans at risk and about 6,000 were American citizens.
secretary of state Anthony Blink
Anthony Blinken’s State Department says it has no “reliable means” to confirm whether the Taliban are preventing Americans from leaving Afghanistan Blinken and Austin visit Gulf allies and Europeans to discuss failed war Afghanistan. Klain estimates that about 100 Americans are still in Afghanistan MORE landed in Qatar on Sunday with Dean Thompson, acting deputy secretary of the Office of Asian and South Affairs. The State Department said Blinken will show his appreciation for the countries that helped host the Afghan evacuees and worked with the U.S.