Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) held a Tuesday press conference in which the senators railed against the actions taken by the Biden administration, which they believe led to the crisis in Afghanistan.
The committee’s GOP members spoke to the press after holding a classified briefing with Gen. Scott Miller, former commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
Among the SASC members who took aim at the administration was U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who condemned senior officials as he expressed his desire to seek answers related to the fallout.
Alabama’s freshman senator touched on an array of issues which have sparked intense reaction from the American public in recent months. He further noted that he believes the disapproval over prior issues pales in comparison to the administration’s handling of Afghanistan.
“This administration has tried to destroy the border, raise taxes, ruin education, crime in the streets, and I’ve never seen the disgust from the American citizen that I’ve seen in the last month – other than this,” Tuberville proclaimed.
SASC Ranking Member @JimInhofe is joined by @SASCGOP members to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and their reactions to their briefing with Gen. Miller today. pic.twitter.com/iQJALjhJoU
— SASC GOP (@SASCGOP) September 14, 2021
Tuberville noted that the blame should not be placed at the feet of U.S. Armed Forces, saying the role military played in the war’s final operations was not the cause of the turmoil that ensued.
“You know, we’ve got a lot of a lot of bright stars in this country,” he added. “And most of them say the brightest is our military and I agree. They keep us safe. They will not get a knock on them because of this.”
Tuberville continued, “We are not going to allow this administration to point fingers at our military. I talked to the general that was in charge of evacuation last week in Belgium. He was adamant that our military did an expert job on what happened and getting that many people out in a short period of time because the rug was pulled out from under them.”
The senator went on to question whether the U.S. State Department made politically-motivated decisions relating to the withdrawal strategy, vowing to demand answers from administration officials.
“[W]hat I want to know is was this a political decision from the State [Department] to Joe Biden or was his a military decision,” asked Tuberville. “We started that process today. General Miller did a good job. We learned some things. We will follow up on that. We will have the generals, Secretary of Defense coming in the very near future. That will be interesting. And we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
