By: Michael Mandarino, Follow South Jersey Managing Editor
SOUTH JERSEY — During an appearance on FOX News’ “Sunday Night in America,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2) called for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ resignations amid the fall of Afghanistan’s government.
Over the weekend, the Taliban completed their most recent offensive in Afghanistan and assumed control of every major city in the country. The United States’ Embassy was evacuated as a result, and chaos ensued throughout the capital city of Kabul after the Taliban assumed control of the presidential palace, which was left vacant after Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani and other top officials fled the country.
Thousands of Afghans desperately tried to flee the country, including some who ran on the tarmac of Kabul’s airport and others who were seen hanging off of planes that had taken off. Some have compared this weekend’s developments in Afghanistan to the Vietnam War and, particularly, the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in 1975.
“My God, it is one of the darkest, most embarrassing days we’ve had in our country, and it’s a tremendous embarrassment for the Biden administration,” Rep. Van Drew said. “Every day, I wake up as a Congressman … and you wonder what’s going to be next. But with this administration, it is failure after failure after failure. Honest to God, I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I am: It literally is time for this president to resign. It is time for this vice president to resign. It is time for the Senate president and our Speaker to resign. We need new people — even new Democrats, hopefully that are moderates.”
Earlier this year, President Biden announced his intention to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by August 31. He said there would be “no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy” last month. However, photos circulated of people being airlifted from the U.S. embassy as the Taliban completed its takeover yesterday.
“The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” President Biden, who will address the nation regarding Afghanistan at 3:45 p.m. on Monday, said.
Rep. Van Drew feels confident that a Republican plan for Afghanistan would’ve led to a different resolution, and he fired more harsh criticism at the Biden administration for its weak approach to the Taliban.
“Believe me, it would have been different,” he said. “The difference is you could withdraw, but you have to make sure that you are connected with what is going on the ground, that you have proper intelligence, none of which this administration obviously had. And third of all, you make it extremely clear to the Taliban, that if they do anything, that is in any way going to harm the world around them, basically, the reign of hell will come down on them. We’re dealing out of weakness, begging them. You don’t do that. You need to have a strong America, a strong military, and deal with them in a way that makes sense.”
In a statement released in April 2021, former President Donald Trump said he planned on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by May 1.
“First, we can and should get out earlier. Nineteen years in enough, in fact, far too much and way too long,” he said. “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”
You can watch Rep. Van Drew’s full FOX News appearance here.
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