Press Releases

Perry Blasts President Biden's Gross Incompetence, Failure of Leadership in Afghanistan Debacle

"Like so many of you – many with whom I’ve spoken over the past week - I’m witnessing images from Afghanistan with frustration, sadness, and unceasing anger.   

For nearly two decades, brave American Service Members gave their blood, sweat, and tears – and many, the last full measure of devotion – to the US mission in Afghanistan, fighting terror, and ensuring not only our own national security but with the help of our allies, security around the globe. 

In a few short days of abject incompetence and failure from President Biden and his Administration, those gains have been erased. 

The abdication of leadership from the Biden Administration is an utterly shameful, disgusting, and embarrassing disgrace, not to mention a grave disservice to our Troops, and the squandering of tens of thousands of American and foreign national lives that were dedicated to ensuring that this would never happen.   

On the humanitarian front, which remains a cornerstone of my work in Congress, over the past 20 years we’ve worked diligently to give equality to the women of Afghanistan, particularly young girls who were given a glimpse of a brighter future in society through education and opportunity.  Now, another casualty of the disorganized, haphazard, and unplanned exit from the country – in which an entire generation grew up under American enlightenment - is that these same people will be relegated once again to the repression and torture of the Taliban.  

On a purely strategic basis, you don’t just pull the rug up from an operation and walk out.  I’ve said from the beginning that, while pulling out of Afghanistan is necessary, it needed to be in a responsible, conditional, and phased approach.  This debacle doesn’t come close.  At the very least, America earned the right to maintain a counter-terrorism presence in Afghanistan; we just lost that capability as well. 

President Biden’s actions – and lack thereof – are complete and abject negligence at best and aiding and abetting our enemy at worst.  To think that the Taliban wouldn’t be poised to seize upon the opportunity of this Administration’s strategic apathy and incompetence is ridiculous, not to mention a demonstrable ignorance of the enemy. 

And oh, by the way, China, Russia, and Iran are watching. 

This moment, and the days to follow, are a blight on our Nation’s history."