While Senator Lindsey Graham has mostly agreed with Trump on his foreign policy decisions the two Republicans are splintering over President Biden’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by September 11th. Trump released a statement criticizing Biden’s timeline but overall “getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do.” However, In a series of Tweets, Sen. Graham shared “could not disagree more with former President Trump regarding his support for President Biden’s withdrawal of all forces from Afghanistan against sound military advice.”
With all due respect to former President Trump, there is nothing ‘wonderful’ or ‘positive’ about allowing safe havens and sanctuary for terrorists to reemerge in Afghanistan or see Afghanistan be drawn back into another civil war.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 19, 2021
The Hill reports:
Graham casted doubt on the Taliban’s ability to police al Qaeda and ISIS, which he said is a key provision in the deal to withdraw troops.
“The intelligence regarding withdrawal is ominous for U.S. interests and no one believes the Taliban can be trusted to police al-Qaeda and ISIS as envisioned by the Biden-Trump plan,” Graham wrote.
He continued, addressing both Biden and Trump as “General” and expressing his fear that “over time Afghanistan will become worse.”
“For the sake of our nation, the people of Afghanistan, and the entire region I hope President Biden and former President Trump are proven right and our military and intelligence communities are proven wrong. However, I very seriously doubt it as I have seen this movie in Iraq and I fear that over time Afghanistan will become worse. It is important history judge those who make these decisions fairly but firmly,” he added.
The South Carolina senator has been extremely critical of the decision to pull troops from Afghanistan saying the move essentially destroys the country’s insurance policy against a second 9/11-style terror attack.
Last Wednesday President Biden announced his plan to pull troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 extending Trump’s deadline to pull U.S. troops out of the country by May 1.