Tom Cotton Calls on Biden to Authorize Military to Rescue Americans in Kabul

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Thursday demanded President Joe Biden expand the U.S. military’s perimeter at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in order to assist American citizens who may be unable to reach it for evacuation due to the Taliban presence.

“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. 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,” Cotton, who served in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team, said in a statement. “As a result, terrified Americans are being forced to run a gauntlet of armed terrorist checkpoints to reach the safety of Kabul airport. My office has received numerous reports of American citizens and Afghan allies being harassed, beaten, and abused by Taliban thugs. These reports are in addition to the televised scenes of chaos at the airport perimeter.”

“This catastrophe of the president’s making must come to an end,” he continued. “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. Anything less amounts to an abandonment of our fellow Americans and a shameful abdication of duty in a moment of crisis.”

Cotton’s remarks come as Biden faces the most intense backlash of his presidency for his administration’s grossly mismanaged withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. The administration is the subject of growing outrage not only because it is unsure of how many Americans are stranded in the Taliban-controlled country, but because it refuses to guarantee their safety to the airport in Kabul where evacuations are taking place.

Earlier Thursday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby conceded the exact number of American citizens trapped remains unknown.

“I don’t know,” Kirby replied in response to a reporter who asked how many “American citizens” are stuck.

On Tuesday, White House officials judged that the “self-identified” figure is roughly 11,000.

Several media reports have suggested up to 40,000 Americans are in Afghanistan. The Associated Press reported 15,000 are stranded.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the military will evacuate individuals “until the clock runs out or we run out of capacity,” raising questions about whether the Biden administration could end up leaving some American citizens behind.

“And quite frankly, we’re not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through. We’re going to work that 24 hours per day, seven days a week. And we’re going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate, evacuated. And I’ll do that as long as we possibly can, until the clock runs out or we run out of capability,” he told reporters.

The UPI highlighted the violence in the country:

For the second straight day, throngs of protesters took to the streets in Afghanistan to show disapproval for the abrupt Taliban takeover, as Biden said troops may be kept there until all Americans are safely evacuated.

Officials said that several people involved in the new demonstrations were killed when Taliban fighters opened fire on them in Asadabad, which is located in eastern Afghanistan about 110 miles East of Kabul.

The demonstrators were waving the Afghan national flag while celebrating the country’s independence from Britain on Aug. 19, 1919.

Multiple protesters were also killed Wednesday, according to UPI, after clashing with Taliban fighters in Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city.