Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized US President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan in a series of tweets after Biden gave public remarks on the crisis.
“President Biden chose a dangerous and dishonorable path in Afghanistan, and he has no one to blame for this debacle but himself,” wrote Graham.
“By standing by his decision to withdraw, President Biden is standing by to allow the slaughter of thousands of Afghans who have faithfully stood by America’s side. He is standing by to allow the rise of Al-Qaeda, in collaboration with the Taliban, to threaten America,” continued the South Carolina Senator.
“Whether it was Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, or our southern border, Joe Biden does not have the judgement to keep America safe and does not have the ability to understand the threats we face. It is a dangerous and lethal combination.”
Graham also wrote that Biden’s speech “was a pathetic attempt to shift blame and an unnerving analysis of the situation he – and he alone – created.”
“President Biden was quick to blame others and never acknowledging the blame lies with him. The essence of his address was ‘The buck stops with me, but President Trump and others made me do it.’ Not exactly Harry Truman,” he wrote in another tweet.
In Biden’s public statement on Monday, the President defended his decision to withdraw from the country.
“I stand squarely behind my decision” to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Biden clarified. He added that the US will “act quickly” against terrorism in Afghanistan “if needed”.
The President asserted that the US gave the Afghan military “every chance” against Taliban but “we couldn't give them the will to fight.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also blasted Biden's handling of the situation in Afghanistan, saying the deteriorating situation was "an unmitigated disaster."
"So against everyone's advice, including the current president’s own military, he decided to withdraw and to withdraw rapidly. What we have seen is an unmitigated disaster, a stain on the reputation of the United States of America," McConnell said, according to Fox News.
"Every terrorist around the world, in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, in Africa, are cheering the defeat of the United States military by a terrorist organization in Afghanistan," he added.
Earlier on Monday, chaos broke out at Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands of Afghans attempted to leave the country on US military aircraft which were evacuating American diplomatic and military personnel.
Video from the airport shows thousands of desperate Afghani citizens chasing after and grabbing onto the aircraft as it moved down the runway and took off.
At least two young men who attempted to hitch a ride on the outside of the plane fell hundreds off feet onto the tarmac seconds after takeoff.
A total of seven people are believed to have been killed in the chaos at the airport.