Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is accusing President Joe Biden of wanting “happy talk” on his administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“What we need is a commander-in-chief that actually has a big plan and a big way to solve this problem,” Sasse said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
He continued, “President Biden has been repeatedly disconnected from reality. He wants happy talk for some political talking point he still wants to execute on or a fight he’s been having with Obama administration alumn since 2009. I’m not sure what’s driving the happy talk, but I know the consequences are going to be.”
The Nebraska senator explained, “The consequences are going to be a return of the Taliban that has been willing to provide safe haven to terrorists in the past. And right now, they don’t even have the power to make a decision about who they are or aren’t going to prove safe haven to. … We have so many different groups who want to turn Afghanistan into the global capital city of jihad.”
Finally, he said:
“The administration doesn’t have a plan. They’ve got all this ‘over the horizon’ talk that is laughably shallow. If you actually sit in intelligence committee meetings, and you hear what ‘over the horizon’ looks like, it is a pittance compared to what we just had on the ground.”
Watch the video below:
.@SenSasse tells @MarthaRaddatz that Pres. Biden has been “repeatedly disconnected from reality” on Afghanistan.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 30, 2021
“The consequences are going to be a return of the Taliban that has been willing to provide safe haven to terrorists in the past.” https://t.co/MTnzZDJekn pic.twitter.com/a7zI0HiQfS
Sasse’s comments come as the U.S. is nearing its Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan and after a suicide bombing in Kabul killed 13 U.S. service members.
The Pentagon asserts that the U.S. will have an “over the horizon” ability to monitor terror threats and conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan once the withdrawal is complete. However, current and former officials doubt the ability to prevent a resurgence of terrorist organizations without a presence in Afghanistan.
