Sen. Lindsey Graham is putting the Biden administration’s review of the botched Afghanistan withdrawal on full blast, accusing officials of a “political whitewash” by repeatedly blaming former President Donald Trump and downplaying the risk of terrorism in the report.
Graham’s comments come after the 12-page report’s release on Thursday, which garnered attention for repeatedly lambasting Trump for allegedly constraining the conditions of the evacuation process, during which a suicide bombing claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members at the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The document particularly shifted blame to Trump for providing no plans on how to conduct a withdrawal from the region despite plans to complete the withdrawal shortly after Biden took office in January 2021.
However, Graham believes that the Biden administration is lying when they claim that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan. He also warns of a “lethal cocktail” forming in the region, combined with the dangers of open-border policies domestically that could lead to another 9/11 unless leaders reverse course.
“My view of what happened in Afghanistan with Biden is he paved the way for another 9/11,” Graham stressed.
The withdrawal, executed in August 2021, took heat from critics as several U.S. citizens and Afghan allies were left behind in the wake of the Taliban’s return to power for the first time since U.S. troops overthrew the radical Islamist regime nearly 20 years prior.
