A House Democrat unloaded on President Joe Biden's handling of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was quickly overtaken by the Taliban and descended into chaos.
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) was among 10 lawmakers who gave the president a letter recommending steps for improving the nation's stability as troops were pulled from the country, and he wrote a column for Foreign Policy condemning the administration's failures to consider the consequences of leaving Afghanistan.
"I suppose we are now experiencing the consequences of not getting 'into a hypothetical,'" Langevin wrote. "Public executions and forced marriages are reportedly back. People are fleeing. The Taliban are in Kabul, and the government has fallen. This is a catastrophe."
The situation was so bad it seemed to have been carried out by the Trump administration, the congressman said.
"This negligence was par for the course for the last U.S. administration," Langevin wrote. "I am disappointed to see it now. At minimum, the Biden administration owed our Afghan allies of 20 years a real plan. They also owed it to our military service members and their families, particularly the men and women in uniform and their families who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Not to mention the women and girls of Afghanistan who are now experiencing a devastating new reality."
