Dear John,
One year later, we commemorate the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan—one of the worst strategic disasters in our nation’s history. Americans watched story after story of Afghans trying to escape, being pulled over the wall to the airfield; even watching as people tried to hold onto airplanes as they took off…only to fall to their deaths. As the chaotic evacuation unfolded, U.S. service members heroically conducted the largest humanitarian airlift evacuation of civilians in our nation’s history. Tragically, 13 of our troops were killed in the line of duty while trying to protect Americans and Afghans to facilitate the evacuations. Corporal Daegan Page of Nebraska’s second district was one of the heroes lost that day. May we never forget his brave sacrifice, his valor, and his legacy.
Two years prior to the 2021 withdrawal, I and many of my colleagues expressed grave concerns about a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan–when President Trump announced his intention to withdraw our troops and he began negotiations with the Taliban. These negotiations excluded the Afghan government, thereby undermining their legitimacy. The negotiations ultimately strengthened the Taliban and weakened our Afghan allies by agreeing to the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners held in Afghan prisons, ending the pursuit of Taliban fighters, and limiting US intelligence and contractor support for Afghan Security Forces at the height of fighting season.
Congress took steps in the FY21 NDAA to address our bipartisan and bicameral concerns regarding the ill-advised withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump vetoed; we overrode; then Biden ignored. We did everything the Constitution allows to try and prevent what we all witnessed. You can see the legislation here.
On April 14, 2021, President Biden announced he was going to execute a full withdrawal of all U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense and the intelligence community both advised against such a rapid and complete withdrawal of American forces. However, the President and his Administration believed they knew better. When the U.S. withdrew our airpower and our logistics support, the Afghan military was doomed to defeat. They had utilized our airpower and logistics for 20 years, and it was foolish for the President to tell Americans that Afghanistan’s government would survive for at least two years.
I was appalled with how President Biden facilitated the withdrawal. According to a Pew Research Center survey, a mere 26% saying the President had done a good job and 69% saying the United States had mostly failed in accomplishing our goals in Afghanistan.
Every day since last August, inquiries and desperate pleas rolled into our office from concerned constituents, service members, veterans, and their families trying to help get a friend or former colleague out of harm’s way in Afghanistan. One year later, few answers or solutions from the Administration exist. We have worked tirelessly, day and night, to do all we can to bring our citizens, the brave allies who fought alongside our troops, and immediate family of Afghan Americans here to America. This withdrawal was a shameful display of ineptitude on behalf of our current Administration, a failure which directly impacted our national honor, disgraced our reputation with our allies, eroded our standing and strength in the world, and affronted our country’s fortitude.
Since the Taliban takeover, a financial crisis has rendered a significant amount of the Afghan population unable to access a sufficient amount of water, food, shelter, and health care services. Women and girls are suffering under repressive policies that ban them from secondary and higher education, force them out of employment, and subject them to strict regulations on what they can wear, where they can go, and how they can act. The basic rights of Afghan citizens have become severely constrained. Journalism is in peril, with the Taliban censoring opposing or critical media and persecuting journalists.
The United Nations Development Programme predicts that by the end of 2022, Afghanistan is likely to face universal poverty – meaning that 97% of Afghans live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. The impoverishment has become so extreme, that some Afghans have taken to selling their children and their own body parts just to feed their families. The Taliban refuses to acknowledge the growing crisis within the country, which only amplifies the tragic situation facing Afghans today.
The situation evolving on Afghan soil demands action. While the United States is leading pledges in aid to Afghanistan, committing over $512 million for 2022, we must also learn the lessons of our failures and change the way we approach our foreign policy. Everyone can recall the President saying we would not depart Afghanistan until all Americans and Afghan allies were evacuated, but in fact he ordered the last plane to depart on the 31st of August 2021, stranding hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of loyal Afghan allies of our military.
President Biden’s insistence on a time-based deadline for our full withdrawal was nonstrategic, ineffective, and dangerous. Instead, we should use conditions-based approaches, to ensure that our enemies, including the Taliban, cannot hide behind the strategy of waiting out our military presence. This is why I and my colleagues warned that a full withdrawal was premature and leaving even a small military presence would deter the kind of Taliban aggression and rapid collapse of the Afghan government that we witnessed.
I have long emphasized the importance of prioritizing deterrence and prevention at the center of our country’s national security strategy and policy. The events that unfolded last August were a painful reminder of how seriously our defense objectives need to be corrected. Many nations, our allies, and our enemies alike, will be watching to see how we move forward from this tragedy. Remaining a global superpower will hinge on our ability to cultivate peace through strength. We must demonstrate once again to the world that we will stand with our NATO allies as well as Middle Eastern partners who share our respect for human life and individual liberty.
We as a nation must use this time to come together, to learn from these mistakes, and to heal our wounds as a country. We can persevere through times of strife to create a better, brighter future, as we have done many times in our past. I look forward to helping build a better, stronger American defense strategy that best protects our homeland, empowers those who serve, and defends our cherished values.
I look forward to continuing to serve this country, honoring our fallen, and caring for our Gold Star families.
As always, I am passionate about representing the great people of Nebraska’s second district. Please reach out to our office at (402) 938-0330 if you have any questions or concerns. You can also contact us at https://bacon.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Don Bacon
