Republican members of Congress have raised questions after it came to light that an al-Qaeda leader with a $25 million bounty on his head was apparently living in an affluent area of Kabul, Afghanistan, with his family, saying that Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal policy and misplaced trust in the word of Taliban leaders has led to Afghanistan once again being a safe haven for terrorists.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) let his feelings out on Twitter.
Graham said the threat from al-Qaeda is still there, despite al-Zawahiri’s death:
“Contrary to what President Biden is saying tonight, our ability to combat growing terrorist threats in Afghanistan are on the margins. There are al Qaeda training camps emerging in Afghanistan like before 9/11.”
“As I said when the Biden Administration withdrew all of our forces from Afghanistan, it was only a matter of time before the country became a safe haven for terrorism once again.”
Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL), a Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, had a couple of questions about the killing. He told Fox News:
”Number one, what was the leader of al Qaeda doing in Kabul?”
“And from what I’m hearing from a number of folks, both in Afghanistan and in the intelligence community, he’s been there for some time. So what did the Taliban promise him? Why did he feel so comfortable to really be out in the open?”
Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) praised the killing of the terrorist leader but noted that Biden lied about al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan. He said:
“The American people were lied to by President Biden.”
“Al Qaeda is not ‘gone’ from Afghanistan as Biden falsely claimed a year ago … And worse, the head of al Qaeda, who was one of the masterminds behind 9/11, was given safe harbor in the capitol city of Kabul — just as al Qaeda was given safe harbor there before 9/11. Our chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan opened the door for al Qaeda to operate freely inside the country to conduct external operations against the United States and our allies again.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the Biden administration should brief Congress on the killing of al-Qaeda’s terrorist leader:
“To discuss the resurgence of al Qaeda in the region following his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
These are questions that the Biden administration should be able to answer, and the GOP is doing the right thing by questioning Biden’s statement about al-Qaeda being “gone.”
