During an interview with CBS’ “The Takeout” podcast recorded on Tuesday and released on Friday, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) stated that the withdrawal from Afghanistan “was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch,” although it wasn’t completely due to choices made in 2021, but was the culmination of two decades worth of decisions.

Spanberger stated, [relevant remarks begin around 33:00] “I think it was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch, particularly for anyone who’s ever spent time in Afghanistan or spent years of their lives focused on kind of the future and the possibility that existed in Afghanistan. But I think that you can say, yes, it was a bad reality in August, but it wasn’t the decisions of just July and June that got us there or the kind of choices that we made in August. It’s 20 years worth of decision-making and 20 years worth of choices that led us to the point.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett