(USA Features) Ohio Republican Rep. Bill Johnson said Tuesday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley should resign if they were the ones who gave President Joe Biden the Afghanistan withdrawal plan that has turned into a chaotic mess.
But if they didn’t and Biden imposed it himself, they have a “moral obligation” to update Americans on Biden’s true mental status.
“I have tremendous respect for Gen. Austin and Gen. Milley, but if this is what they call advice and counsel to the president, if he — if this is the kind of plan that they gave him, then they failed the American people and they should resign and apologize,” Johnson told Fox Business Network.
“But if they did not, and I understand from colleagues that this is not the plan they gave the president, they have a moral obligation to tell the American people that this president is grossly incompetent for the job,” he added.
Biden has been roundly criticized by left and right over his handling of the Afghanistan pullout, including from his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump ripped Biden over his apparent inability to get a grasp of the situation.
“Biden surrendered Afghanistan to the terrorists and left thousands of Americans for dead by pulling out the Military before our citizens,” Trump said.
“Now we are learning that out of the 26,000 people who have been evacuated, only 4,000 are Americans,” added Trump.
“You can be sure the Taliban, who are now in complete control, didn’t allow the best and brightest to board these evacuation flights,” he continued.
“Instead, we can only imagine how many thousands of terrorists have been airlifted out of Afghanistan and into neighborhoods around the world,” Trump added.
“What a terrible failure. NO VETTING. How many terrorists will Joe Biden bring to America? We don’t know!”
A growing number of lawmakers have publicly stated they don’t believe the Biden administration will be able to get all Americans out of Afghanistan by the hard-and-fast Aug. 31 deadline set by the Taliban and agreed to by the White House on Tuesday, meaning what has become an evacuation crisis could turn into a hostage crisis of sorts.
“I think it’s very unlikely given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, the number of SIVs, the number of others who are members of the Afghan press, civil society leaders, women leaders, it’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Monday.
Meanwhile, Taliban leaders say the deadline won’t be extended.
“It’s a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,” Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said earlier this week.
“If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” Shaheen added. “It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction.”