'Welcome ISIS 3.0': McCain, Waltz Roast Biden's Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan as Taliban Surges
00:10 GMT 15.08.2021 (Updated: 13:22 GMT 06.08.2022)
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The Biden administration is in hot water following the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which prompted a swift surge of the Taliban in the country. As the militants are said to have 90% of the country's territory under its control, Biden moved to increase the US troop deployment to some 5,000 to assist in the evacuation of American personnel.
With the Taliban* advancing through Afghanistan and capturing more provincial cities every day, the Biden administration faces an intense backlash over the way the withdrawal campaign has been carried out, with some suggesting that the withdrawal could be the beginning of "ISIS* 3.0" or "Al Qaeda* 3.0" in Afghanistan.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of late US Senator John McCain, pondered how her father would react to Biden's policies in the region.
"Democrats like to wax poetic a lot about what my dad would have done and said (most of the time reinventing some weird fantasy of who he was)", McCain tweeted. "Let me tell you one god damn thing - he would be raging in public and to President Biden about this withdrawal in Afghanistan. Raging."
She also said the Afghanistan pullout and the end of the US war in the nation "is an absolutely shameful moment for our country", slamming the administration for its decisions.
Even if you thought leaving Afghanistan was the right decision -this is a reckless, dangerous, blundering, and embarrassing withdrawal.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 14, 2021
We left our translators, women, children, people who helped us for 20 years to be slaughtered & our president just called a lid until Wednesday
Also - welcome to ISIS 3.0.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 14, 2021
Give credit to the Biden administration.
Representative Michael Waltz voiced similar concerns when speaking to Fox News' Sean Hannity.
“You’re going to see Al Qaeda 3.0,” Waltz said. "They are going to come roaring back. You’re going to see a repeat of when Obama pulled out of Iraq far too soon, quickly and irresponsibly, and ISIS came surging in. We saw a caliphate the size of Indiana and attacks across the West. You’re going to see that again."
With the Taliban offensive will come Al Qaeda 3.0. Just like when Obama pulled out of Iraq far too quickly, which led to the rise of ISIS, the caliphate & attacks across the West. pic.twitter.com/fMECUgJMC2
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) August 13, 2021
Taliban Surge in Afghanistan
Concerns about Afghanistan becoming a haven for terrorists emerged as the Afghan government now reportedly only control the capital city, Kabul, and Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar. The Taliban has reportedly claimed control over 90% of the country's territory.
The group's advance in Afghanistan began shortly after the United States began withdrawing its troops from the country. When the Taliban established control over multiple Afghan provincial capitals, the Pentagon announced the re-deployment of some 3,000 troops to assist in the evacuation from the country of US diplomatic personnel and those Afghan citizens who had aided the Americans as translators and in other duties.
On Saturday, Biden ramped up the re-deployment figure to 5,000, warning the Taliban that any action that poses a risk to Americans in Afghanistan will be met with a "swift and strong US military response".
Biden's actions have faced significant criticism, with the previous US president, Donald Trump, his ex-State Secretary, Mike Pompeo, and US Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in the frontline. The latter urged Washington to resolve the tense situation in Afghanistan by the use of airstrikes, and the former president dubbed Biden's policy in Afghanistan a "tragic mess".
*The Taliban, ISIS (ISIL, IS, Daesh), Al-Qaeda are terrorist groups outlawed in Russia and many other countries
