LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is calling the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan an "unmitigated disaster."
America's longest war is ending, with the Taliban sweeping through the Middle-Eastern country, recapturing the capital city of Kabul. The American embassy was evacuated, and images of Afghans literally trying to jump onto planes as they leave the airport have been flashed around the world.
In an interview at WDRB studios Monday, the Senate Minority Leader placed the blame squarely on President Joe Biden and said the hasty retreat will "leave a stain on our national reputation" that will not soon fade away.
McConnell said he has recommended to the last two presidents that the U.S. keep a light presence in Afghanistan for counter-terrorism and for training the Afghan army. He blasted Biden for the way American troops left the country.
"So when the president announced that he was going to get out by May, the first thing he did was try to blame it on Trump," McConnell said, noting that the U.S. has not lost a single troop in combat over the past year.
McConnell said America's enemies are "cheering today, watching the Taliban, in effect, defeat the United States of America."
"Now if he insisted on getting out, at least he could have planned it," he said. "This administration couldn't organize a two-car funeral. An utter disaster, we witnessed it on the screen:. People clinging to the side of the airplanes, desperate, trying to get out of there because they know they're going to be killed by the Taliban because they were collaborating with us.
"What does that say to friends of America around the world? You can't depend on us. When we turn our back on you, you're in trouble. So this is a debacle of gargantuan proportions."
McConnell said he is not surprised that the Taliban took control so quickly.
He said the Afghan army was completely demoralized because, he said, the U.S "pulled the rug out from under them."
McConnell said the two decade U.S. presence in Afghanistan succeeded in preventing another terrorist attack on American soil.
"We went there in order to prevent us from getting hit again," he said. "That was the goal. I think you would have to say that was a success."
But McConnell expressed concern that success may be short-lived.
"It was a haven for people who wish us ill," he said. "And it now is once again."
U.S. Congressman John Yarmuth, the only Kentucky Democrat in Congress, called the situation in Afghanistan heartbreaking.
"Twenty years and four presidents in, it has never been clearer how misguided and ill-conceived America's war on terror was," Yarmuth said in a statement. "There is no sugar-coating the horrors that are happening right now, but let's not pretend that there is a clear or easy solution. A third decade of indefinite war cannot be an option."
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
