Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is blaming both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for the situation in Afghanistan, saying they made “terrible decisions.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Romney on Sunday if U.S. troops should stay in Afghanistan until every American citizen and Afghan SIV applicant is evacuated.
Romney replied, “Leaving Americans behind and leaving our Afghan friends behind, who worked with us, would put upon us and will put upon us a moral stain.”
He added, “And this a result of very ineffective decisions, terrible decisions, made by the prior administration and by the current administration. This did not have to happen. It was preventable.”
The senator argued the U.S. did not have to be in this “rush, rush circumstance with terrorists breathing down our neck, but it’s really the responsibility of the prior administration and this administration that has caused this crisis to be upon us and has led to what is, without question, a humanitarian and foreign policy tragedy.”
Watch his comments below:
“This is the result of very ineffective decisions by the prior administration and the current administration,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney says about Afghanistan. https://t.co/6xshdpUYTG #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/VqTy5gjdA2
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) August 29, 2021
Romney mentioned the Trump administration’s negotiations with the Taliban, “getting ready to invite them to Camp David, opening up a prison of 5,000 Taliban and probably ISIS-K individuals and letting them free.”
He continued, “We don’t know whether some of them were involved in the attack that occurred. These were the decisions that led to what you’re seeing and the danger that exists at the airport. This should not have happened. President Biden closing the Bagram Air Base. That’s what’s led to what’s happening.”
According to Romney, the decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan “puts us in greater danger.”
Recognizing “the war is not over,” he added, “We’re just in a weaker position. We don’t have boots on the ground. We don’t have eyes on the ground.”
Check out more of his interview below:
“The decision to pull our military out of Afghanistan puts us in greater danger,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney says.
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) August 29, 2021
“The war is not over. We're just in a weaker position. We don't have boots on the ground. We don't have eyes on the ground.” https://t.co/6xshdpUYTG #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/pbWzp0FjE3
Romney’s comments come just days after an attack outside of Kabul’s airport killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans. The White House reported Monday that in the last 24 hours, approximately 1,200 people have been evacuated from Kabul.
“Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 116,700 people. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 122,300 people,” the White House said, according to a White House pool report on Monday.
