Washington/Kabul: Ramping up their criticism of US President Joe Biden, Republican leaders have said the US should move quickly to conduct air strikes against the Taliban and provide support to Afghan troops to prevent a takeover of the country’s capital.
US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in a statement, said: “It is not too late to prevent the Taliban from overrunning Kabul. The Administration should move quickly to hammer Taliban advances with air strikes, provide critical support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) defending the capital, and prevent the seemingly imminent fall of the city.”
“If they fail to do so, the security threat to the United States will assuredly grow and the humanitarian cost to innocent Afghans will be catastrophic,” he warned.
Separately, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told a TV channel that the “blood being spilled in Afghanistan now”, and in the future if U.S. troops must return, “is on President Joe Biden’s hands”.
‘American soldiers are going to have to go back again to deal with this, most likely special forces,’ Waltz said Friday. ‘Except this time, we have no one that will trust us, no one that will work with us., no local bases, and no conceivable strategy. All of this blood is going to be on Biden’s hands, and I will make sure everybody knows about it.” ‘The other thing that’s just such a slap in the face, is that it’s likely we’re going to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with the fall of Kabul, and the rise of al-Qaida, ISIS and the Taliban again. It’s truly unbelievable,’ Waltz told Newsmax channel.
Waltz said the U.S. needs to unleash the Air Force against Taliban targets to get them back to the negotiating table and restore order to the nation.
McConnell added that he had spoken with the Afghanistan ambassador to the US, saying they had “an urgent conversation” regarding “the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the unfolding humanitarian crisis.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday asked the Taliban to immediately end its offensive and said seizing power through military forces is a losing proposition.
He said that it is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them.
“I am also deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions on human rights in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists,” Guterres said.
