(USA Features) Sen. Tom Cotton, a former Army infantry officer and Iraq war vet, is demanding that President Joe Biden order U.S. military forces stationed at the international airport in Kabul to rescue Americans stranded “behind enemy lines.”
Noting that Biden’s “ill-planned” withdrawal from Afghanistan has “stranded thousands” of Americans “behind enemy lines,” the Arkansas Republican said it is time for Biden to “authorize the military” to go out and “rescue Americans behind enemy lines.”
On Wednesday, the White House said that as many as 15,000 Americans remain trapped in territory that is now controlled by the Taliban.
“President Biden’s ill-planned, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has stranded thousands of American citizens behind enemy lines, turning them in effect into hostages of the Taliban,” said Sen. Cotton in an Aug. 19 statement.
“Instead of ordering rescue missions to save our people, as our allies have done, the Biden administration is relying on the Taliban’s good graces to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he continued.
“As a result, terrified Americans are being forced to run a gauntlet of armed terrorist checkpoints to reach the safety of Kabul airport,” Cotton noted further.
“My office has received numerous reports of American citizens and Afghan allies being harassed, beaten, and abused by Taliban thugs,” he said.
“These reports are in addition to the televised scenes of chaos at the airport perimeter,” Cotton said, adding that time is of the essence.
“This catastrophe of the president’s making must come to an end,” said the senator.
“It’s time for President Biden to authorize the military to stop this rolling humiliation, expand the perimeter at Kabul airport, and rescue Americans trapped behind enemy lines,” said the Arkansas war vet.
“Anything less amounts to an abandonment of our fellow Americans and a shameful abdication of duty in a moment of crisis,” concluded Cotton.