A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis pilloried President Joe Biden during an appearance on Fox News Monday night, saying the President’s Afghanistan exit was a misbegotten quest for a “9/11 moment.”
“Biden wanted to do this so he could have a 9/11 moment, where he could kind of do a victory lap,” DeSantis said on Sean Hannity‘s show.
The Governor was pessimistic about rescuing Americans and U.S. allies given the issues thus far.
“I just worry they’ve been so asleep at the switch that more people are going to get hurt,” DeSantis said.
The bleak messaging continues a trend from last week when DeSantis’ concern about the Afghan endgame was so much that he even addressed it during the opening of monoclonal therapy sites throughout the state.
In Panama City Friday, DeSantis offered extended comments to the Panhandle press.
“It’s frustrating, not just as a Governor, but just as an American,” DeSantis said, “to see some of the stuff that’s going on in this country and throughout this world.”
“Then you see what’s happening in Afghanistan. To just leave all those Americans basically fending for themselves behind enemy lines, gifting billions of dollars worth of military equipment to terrorist groups,” DeSantis said. “I think the whole Afghanistan thing, we needed to find a way to kind of dial that down, and I’m in favor of that generally.”
“But, man, there’s a way to do it, and there’s a way to say we just don’t care what’s going on.”
The Governor also addressed Afghanistan on Thursday, charging Biden with a “lack of leadership.”
“You look around the country; you look around the world right now. I mean, we have Americans that are just being hung out to dry in Afghanistan,” DeSantis said in Pasco County. “We’ve got billions of dollars of military equipment that’s just basically being gifted to terrorist groups. Things that the taxpayers paid for. Things that our men and women used.”
DeSantis has already been on Hannity twice talking about the end of the Afghanistan conflict.
The Governor’s talking points come as fears emerge following the Taliban’s takeover of the Afghan government that al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks, may resurge.
The lightning-fast changes in Afghanistan are forcing the Biden administration to confront the prospect of a resurgent al-Qaida, at the same time the U.S. is trying to stanch violent extremism at home and cyberattacks from Russia and China.
With the rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces and rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, “I think al-Qaida has an opportunity, and they’re going to take advantage of that opportunity,” said Chris Costa, who was senior director for counterterrorism in the Trump administration.
“This is a galvanizing event for jihadists everywhere.”
Al-Qaida’s ranks have been significantly diminished by 20 years of war in Afghanistan, and it’s far from clear that the group has the capacity in the near future to carry out catastrophic attacks on America such as the 9/11 strikes, especially given how the U.S. has fortified itself in the past two decades with surveillance and other protective measures.
But a June report from the U.N. Security Council said the group’s senior leadership remains present inside Afghanistan, along with hundreds of armed operatives. It noted that the Taliban, who sheltered al-Qaida fighters before the Sept. 11 attacks, “remain close, based on friendship, a history of shared struggle, ideological sympathy and intermarriage.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged Friday that al-Qaida remains a presence in Afghanistan, though quantifying it is hard because of a reduced intelligence-gathering capability in the country and “because it’s not like they carry identification cards and register somewhere.”
_______
Content from the Associated Press was used in this report.
12 comments
Frankie M.
August 23, 2021 at 11:27 pm
How is retreating from a 20 year failed experiment the same as doing a victory lap? Wouldn’t it be intuitively at least the opposite? This was never about politics for Biden. While you can mince details Republicans and Democrats can all agree that we should’ve left a long time ago.
Tom
August 23, 2021 at 11:29 pm
Perfect, America’s Governor was right on.
You couldn’t ask for better performance.
POTUS and his incompetent team have made him a giant in Repub. and conservative movement. All these foolish Dems don’t realize how they have ensured his continued growth.
The Govs experience on military and monoclonal med. centers shows his brilliance.
His setting up centers across state shows he’s on the side of peeps.
Cause he provided med alternative, media thru AP attempted to smear once again. Just shows how low they stoop and lose. CBS 60 mints anybody. America’s Governor the best!
Peterh
August 24, 2021 at 2:30 am
15,000 Americans evacuated yesterday…..not a single American death connected to any part of this evacuation.
As reported by Steven Miller, Trump’s immigration advisor on Fox News with Laura Ingram……not a single interpreter or Afghan American collaborator was vetted by the Trump administration for departure from Afghanistan. Thus ….. Trump dumped the responsibility of vetting 65,000 Afghans on Biden.
In February of 2020 Trump did not negotiate America’s withdrawal with the sitting Afghan government….. he coordinated our exit with the Taliban! Why is that? How does our incompetent idiot governor think Trump’s Taliban negotiations impacted the moral of 350,000 American trained Afghan military? Did Hannity ask DeSantis to elaborate?
DeSantis will never be President. He wants to plague America with the worst of his incompetent Florida policies and decisions. What a loser……just like Trump.
Tom
August 24, 2021 at 6:52 am
Once again you have no clue what you are saying. Your hate for Governor is blind rage. You lie, there was a shooting and death outside airport, other actions are not being reported.
You literally are the only person defending this flawed effort. We have 7000 soldiers now, when we had 2,500 a month ago. Who orders the closing of Bagram like this. We have thousands vulnerable now.
Of course some things were not negotiated. Trump left in January. How ignorant are you? The Lincoln project is corrupt. You just attack al the time to protect your dishonest cause.
America’s Governor is going to kick you all to the curb. As for you, you are child.
Peterh
August 24, 2021 at 12:41 pm
Tom. You and your ilk are the reason so many of us have left the Republican Party.
Every word of my statement is accurate. In the past 24 hours 21,000 Americans and Afghans were evacuated. Trump claimed two days ago that Biden had removed troops too fast …. when in reality Biden had thousands more boots on the ground to aid with this evacuation.
Again you have no idea what you’re talking about when you mention the timeline of Trump’s negotiations with the terrorist Taliban. Trump negotiated directly with the Taliban instead of the Afghan Government in February of 2020 …… Trump left office in January of 2021! Get out a calendar before you post!
Floridians don’t “hate” DeSantis …..WE HATE HIS INSIPID STUPID AUTHORITARIAN POLICIES THAT MAKE LITTLE SENSE! DESANTIS IS A TRUMP BOOTLICKER.
The goal for intelligent thinking Americans is to DESTROY WHAT REMAINS OF TRUMPISM AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THAT IS ENGULFED IN THE TRUMP STUPID! Our country depends on rebuilding a new smarter Conservative party devoid of the Tom and Ed nonsense.
Wanda
August 24, 2021 at 4:50 pm
Our governor is a boot licker that licks trump nasty ass
Impeach Biden
August 24, 2021 at 9:02 pm
Walk away Joe. Third time in the last few days he has walked taking no questions after reading his teleprompter. Yet you criticize Trump and DeSantis who can actually speak and answer questions without referencing cue cards, notes, etc. This administration is an absolute joke. Kamala over in Singapore, hiding obviously, telling people to shop Christmas early. Then there is Sleepy meeting with the WNBA team taking a knee. YHGBSM. No wonder the Taliban has the upper hand with Joe.
Impeach Biden
August 24, 2021 at 9:03 pm
The boot locker is Biden licking those Taliban boots. No wonder he was a draft dodger.
redheadedone
August 24, 2021 at 10:39 pm
45 was the draft dodger, get it right. He faked his way out of fighting, remember? his daddy got a tenant to write he had fake …er bone spurs, which hasnt stopped him from raping dozens of women, playing golf, and terrorizing Scotland, among other crimes, like tax fraud and God know what else we will see. i suggest you read some of the articles
“This administration is hostile to refugees,” says Adam Bates, with the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Bates says in Iraq there is a backlog of more than 100,000 people now in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program P-2 Direct Access Program. Last year about 200 were cleared — down from nearly 10,000 in 2016.
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/01/718927688/no-visas-for-afghan-and-iraqi-interpreters
The number of Afghans getting visas also is slowing — down about 60% in recent years, Bates says. More than 4,000 were cleared in fiscal year 2017, compared with about 1,650 in 2018.
redheadedone
August 24, 2021 at 10:41 pm
Mr.bates comment refers to 45, incase you were confused..oh,BTW, i am a lifelong republican. who would NEVEr support 45
redheadedone
August 24, 2021 at 10:26 pm
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf
PeterH
August 25, 2021 at 12:15 am
Thank you!
Comments are closed.