Americans woke up Sunday to the news that after two decades and the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops the Taliban terrorists are taking over Afghanistan and President Joe Biden is responsible, one top U.S. general said.
As Taliban warlords surround the capital city of Kabul, Gen. (Ret.) David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan, predicted the debacle.
‘This is an enormous national security setback and it is on the verge of getting much worse unless we decide to take really significant action,’ Petraeus told WABC Radio in a recent interview.
“The outcome, whether it is the Taliban taking over the country or it’s the kind of civil war that we saw in the wake of the collapse of the post-Soviet government, there are no good outcomes here,” Petraeus said. “In fact, there is nothing more than horrible outcomes unless we are willing to acknowledge that this is not going as more optimistic projections laid out and take stock.”
“We are now in a situation where the Taliban are trying to encircle Kabul – a city of 5 or 6 million – before hundreds of thousands of refugees starting flooding into it,” he argued. “If we communicate effectively with the Taliban that they need to halt what they are doing, or we will bring the might of the U.S. military down upon them, we can stop this.”
Petraeus made the remarks after Biden said Afghanistan being taken over by terrorists was “highly unlikely.”
The Daily Mail reported on the development and Biden’s role in a foreign policy disaster people are comparing to the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War.
Biden announced in a statement Saturday that “approximately 5,000” U.S. soldiers will assist with the evacuation process:
The president has set an August 31 deadline for the competition of the withdrawal. The pentagon estimates that 30,000 people will need to be evacuated in this process. According to Biden, he and his security team made the decision in an effort to ‘protect our interests and values as we end our military mission in Afghanistan.’
Earlier on Sunday, the insurgents captured the eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, giving them control of one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan. They also took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport the only way out of Afghanistan still in government hands.
After U.S.-led forces withdrew the bulk of their remaining troops in the last month, the Taliban campaign accelerated as the Afghan military’s defenses appeared to collapse.
Biden has been slammed by several Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who slammed Biden’s “complete mismanagement” of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“The White House has no discernible plan other than pleading with the Taliban,” McCarthy said. “The bungled withdrawal, reminiscent of his failed withdrawal from Iraq, is an embarrassment to our nation.”
“The fiasco in Afghanistan wasn’t just predictable, it was predicted,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said. “Joe Biden’s ill-planned retreat has now humiliated America and put at risk thousands of Americans left in Kabul.”
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com.
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