Now, it looks like even Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California is ripping the Biden Administration, simply because he said that he thought it was “unlikely” that the U.S. would be able to evacuate Americans and allies from Afghanistan by the August 31st deadline.
Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters that there were a lot of individuals left to evacuate after the Taliban takeover.
“Given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, the number of Special Immigrant Visas, the number of others who are members of the Afghan press, civil society leaders, women leaders. It’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month,” he continued. “It’s hard for me to see that being completed by the end of the month,” Schiff also noted.
The crisis in Afghanistan continues to worsen by the day, with some Americans reportedly being beaten by the Taliban militants after they try to make their way to the airport in Kabul in their efforts to escape the country
White House Press Secretary angrily denied that there had been “stranded” Americans in Afghanistan even though there were plenty of reports and other videos that undermined her denial. Oh well, I guess she can “circle back” to that later. Oh brother.
The Taliban warned President Biden on Monday that there would be serious consequences if the president insisted on troops staying in Afghanistan beyond the deadline.
Schiff also expressed his concern that the airport would be an attractive target for similar terrorist groups.
“I think the threat to the airport is very real and very substantial and this has been a concern of mine for some days now that this would make a very attractive target for ISIS,” he added.
Of course, Schiff IS a Democrat, so he also appeared to support the claim from Biden that no one from his team anticipated the Afghan government to fall so quickly to the Taliban.
“The intelligence agencies assessments of the Afghan government’s ability to maintain itself became increasingly pessimistic over the course of the last six months,” said Schiff.
“And there were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over,” he added. “And some that included the potential of a very rapid takeover. At the same time, though, I think it’s also fair to say that no one predicted such a rapid collapse, a rapid and complete collapse of the Afghan government and forces.”
Schiff went on to say that there are going to be a number of meetings to determine what type of intelligence led to the unexpectedly quick fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban.