Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) said Wednesday on CNN International’s “Hala Gorani Tonight” that it would restart a “firestorm of combat” if the U.S. military attempts to enter the city of Kabul to extract those trying to flee the Taliban.
Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) said, “We need to control the situation at and outside the gates of the airport, yes. If the Taliban are significantly impeding that, then not only do we not leave the airport, which is something I think they would not want, but I think we do need to consider using the very considerable means that we still have to send them a message. Yes, absolutely.”
Gorani said, “So that would mean potentially you would support the use of force in this case?”
Malinowski said, “That is what the military is for.”
Garamendi said, “I think my colleague, with whom I have enormous respect, is absolutely wrong. We’re going to send American troops into the heart and into the suburbs and into the streets of Kabul to extract people? It makes no sense whatsoever. We do control the airport. We are going to do the very best we can. The people in Kabul and in other parts of this country are going to have to do the best they can to get there. There is no way that the American military should use military force to go to someone’s house or some build something where to extract people. That will create a very significant problem and a very significant loss of life on both sides. We do control the airport. We should continue to do that as long as it takes to extract as many people as possible. But to provide safe passage from parts of a huge city, no way, not sensible.”
He added, “We need to recognize that we are now in the middle of a city, in an airport in the middle of a city in which the Taliban control that city. What is happening and what should continue to happen is the discussions between the American military and the Taliban military and others to work out a reasonable mechanism for people to enter the airport and to get to the airport. But we probably have somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers, probably closer to 3,000 than to 5,000, that are actively guarding the airport and frankly bringing the airport under control and ending the chaos at the airport. To go into that city and to go beyond that seems to me to be a tax that we should very carefully consider because it will undoubtedly result in a firestorm of combat.”
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