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'Unmitigated disaster': Republicans attack Biden's defense of Afghan pullout

[September 30, 2021] By Phil Stewart and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. lawmakers tried on Wednesday to pick apart President Joe Biden's defense of his withdrawal from Afghanistan as they attacked his judgment and honesty during a second day of contentious Congressional hearings with Pentagon leaders.

Democrat Biden has faced the biggest crisis of his presidency over the war in Afghanistan, which he argued needed to be brought to a close after 20 years of stalemated fighting that had cost American lives, drained resources and distracted from greater strategic priorities.

Republicans have accused him of lying about military commanders' recommendations to keep 2,500 troops in the country, playing down warnings of the risks of a Taliban victory, and exaggerating America's ability to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for militant groups like al Qaeda.

"I fear the president may be delusional," said Mike Rogers, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, calling the withdrawal an "unmitigated disaster."

"It will go down in history as one of the greatest failures of American leadership," Rogers said.

Under Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump, the United States made a deal with the Islamist militant group to withdraw all American forces, leaving Biden with the tough choice of pulling out completely or abandoning the deal and embracing a period of renewed hostilities with the Taliban.

Biden's approval ratings have been badly damaged by last month's spectacular collapse of the two-decade war effort, which ended in a chaotic withdrawal that left U.S. troops dead and American citizens behind.

General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said both he and the top commander on the ground in Afghanistan had recommended keeping 2,500 U.S. troops as well as thousands more coalition forces in the country.

McKenzie, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley testified in the House for 4-1/2 hours on Wednesday, after spending almost all day on Tuesday at a hearing in the Senate.

McKenzie told the House committee that he had warned that a complete withdrawal would lead to the collapse of the Afghan military and the Afghan government.

"That is in fact what happened," McKenzie said.

In an August television interview, Biden denied his commanders had recommended keeping 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. He said then: "No. No one said that to me that I can recall."

Republicans accused Biden of being untruthful, also citing his promises to leave no Americans behind and scoffing at his assurances in July that Afghanistan wouldn't become another Vietnam even as the Taliban's advance accelerated.

The House hearing devolved repeatedly into shouting matches, as representatives argued over what Democrats characterized as partisan Republican attacks on Biden, particularly over the television interview.

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U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, gestures during committee's hearing on "Ending the U.S. Military Mission in Afghanistan" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, U.S., September 29, 2021. Rod Lamkey/Pool via REUTERS

One committee member, Republican Representative Mike Johnson, used the time he had been allotted for questions to read the interview transcript aloud.

Republican Joe Wilson said Biden should resign.

Other Republicans directed their anger at Milley. They slammed him for doing interviews for books critical of Trump and accused him of being "woke," which Republicans consider a disparaging reference to his comments this summer about the need for military commanders to be aware of racial tensions in America.

Trump has repeatedly accused Milley of being a "woke" general more concerned with his image than winning the war.

U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, who has broken from Republicans to become a vocal Trump opponent, praised Milley.

"For any member of this committee, for any American to question your loyalty to our nation ... is despicable," Cheney told Milley at the hearing.

"STRATEGIC FAILURE"

Milley testified that withdrawing to zero had a major impact on morale among Afghan troops, who had grown to depend on U.S. assistance for everything from air and intelligence support to training and equipment maintenance.

While the U.S. airlift of 124,000 people out of Afghanistan was a logistical success, Milley acknowledged for a second day that it was a "strategic failure" - one that left the Taliban back in power at the end of America's longest war.

Democrats faulted Republicans for blaming Biden - who has been president since late January - for everything that went wrong during the 20 years U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan.

Representative Adam Smith, the committee's Democratic chairman, said he agreed with Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

"Our larger mission to help build a government in Afghanistan that could govern effectively and defeat the Taliban had failed," Smith said.

"President Biden had the courage to finally make the decision to say no, we are not succeeding in this mission."

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Grant McCool)

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