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A year after the US pulled its military forces out of Afghanistan, the Biden administration continues to face scrutiny amid growing concerns that the Taliban-controlled nation is becoming an international “enclave” for terrorism.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-C., blasted the Biden White House for the withdrawal, warning that the decision goes “against good military advice” and has dangerous repercussions.
“This was a political decision by Biden,” Graham told “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday. “I wanted to go out on 9/11/2021, 20 years later. I wanted to be the American president… that ended America’s longest war.”
“Well, it backfired on him,” he continued. “We didn’t end the longest war. We started a new one. Al Qaeda camps are springing up, training camps are springing up in Afghanistan as I speak.”
AFGHANISTAN COLLAPSES ONE YEAR LATER: JENNIFER GRIFFIN EXPLAINES HOW THE TALIBAN CAME IN
Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 23.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell)
Biden announced earlier this month that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri had been killed in a US drone strike, but despite receiving bipartisan praise, critics fear the resurgence of terrorism in the nation is cause for concern.
“This is one of the biggest mistakes in the war on terror,” Graham said. “It’s setting in motion, I can’t say it enough, another 9/11-style attack on America because we’ve left Afghanistan, we’re repeating history, and it was all avoidable.”
“The buck stops with Joe Biden,” he continued. “There’s nobody else to blame more than him. He’s gotten everything wrong for the last 30, 40 years. My biggest fear of him being president is that he’ll do something so stupid.”
President Biden inherited an outline withdrawal from the Trump administration, which was originally scheduled to take place in May 2021.
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But in the end, Biden decided to proceed with the elimination of the military “unconditionally” by September 11, 2021, despite the pushback.
“It was Biden’s decision to pull the plug on Afghanistan against good military advice,” Graham said. “There were conditions for our withdrawal. The Afghans, the Taliban did not meet under those conditions.”
Bailee Hill is an associate editor at Fox News Digital.
