Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican from South Carolina) addresses members of the media upon his arrival on Capitol Hill, February 13, 2021. Stefani Reynolds – Pool/Getty Images
Graham, Sen., argued Friday that the US should extend its withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan.
Graham and Gen. Jack Keane, both retired, wrote in a WSJ op ed that the US should also expand operations beyond Kabul.
They wrote that "[Biden] must accept the risk of the Taliban attacking our forces,"
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Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is a Republican, and one the Senate's most outspoken warhawks, said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Friday that the US military should extend the withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan or risk being attacked and occupied by the Taliban.
Graham, who has long supported indefinite American occupations overseas, and his op–ed coauthor, retired Gen. Jack Keane, said that the US government should not withdraw completely until thousands of Afghan allies have been evacuated. They asked President Joe Biden not to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan after the August 31 deadline. Instead, they urged him to create routes for Afghan allies to travel across the country to Kabul to evacuate.
They wrote that President Biden should keep the forces in place for long enough to evacuate those who owe us a great deal. "He must accept the possibility that the Taliban might attack our forces."
They claimed it would be dishonorable to use "anything less than" the "full force of the US military in support of the effort.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley stated this week that the US military will remain in Afghanistan until all Americans who want to flee Afghanistan are evacuated. Milley and Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, told the media on Wednesday that they do not have the ability to send troops into Kabul or any other part of the country to bring people to the airport. The military has not been able to reach its goal of moving between 5,000 and 9,000 people daily through Kabul's airport.
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On Friday, the president will give a speech with additional information on the evacuation efforts.
Graham tweeted Friday morning that Biden should be "impeached for dereliction of duty" if the US military fails evacuate Afghans or Americans who have worked with US forces.
He wrote, "If we leave any Americans behind or if thousands of Afghans who fought bravely beside us, President Joe Biden should be impeached.
Biden made it clear that he does not believe the Taliban can be defeated by additional US troops.
Biden stated that after 20 years of training and equipping hundreds upon thousands of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces personnel, 2,448 Americans were killed and 20,722 were wounded and untold numbers of people returning home from Afghanistan suffering from mental trauma, he would not send another generation to Afghanistan to fight.
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