ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのLindsey Graham assails Biden for Afghanistan troop withdrawal

Senator Lindsey Graham: (00:03)
Okay. One, I got to get in better shape running up the stairs here. (00:07)
So I miss John McCain a lot, but probably no more than today, because if John were with us, I’d be speaking second. And he would be telling you a story about how unwise this decision is to withdraw all of our forces from Afghanistan. So you can say on September, 9/11, 2021 we’re out. The conditions on the ground and the military advice runs counter to that decision. But the one thing I want to say is that President Biden, I respect him, but I completely disagree. I’ve tried to work with presidents of both parties when it comes to the war on terror. I stood up to President Trump when he announced our unilateral withdrawal from Syria and to his credit, he listened and adjusted his policies. I have been pushing the Trump administration that if you want to do a deal with the Taliban, make sure the conditions are met before we agree to the end game.(01:32)
The Taliban have been trying to drive this out for years. They do not have our best interest at heart. On March 22nd, Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to President Biden, called me, I like Jake, I think he’s smart, I appreciate the phone call. I want the American people to know when it comes to Afghanistan, there are no great options. This is a place that’s complicated and dangerous without a lot of great options. But the options are high risk, medium risk and low risk to the American homeland. President Biden unfortunately has chosen the highest risk option available, which is to leave no matter what. I am certain that our military advised against a unilateral withdrawal without conditions being met, to protect the American homeland and our way of life from a future attack emanating from Afghanistan. This September will be 20 years since Afghanistan was used as a launching pad to attack America, to kill almost 3000 of us.(02:45)
The reason they killed 3000 of us almost, is they couldn’t find a better way to kill more of us. Does anybody doubt that if Al-Qaeda or ISIS had a nuclear capability they’d use it? Does anybody doubt at that if had a chemical capability they would use it? So what have we learned in the last 20 years? When we allow sanctuary for radical Islamic groups to train, equip and get stronger, they come after us. They come after our way of life and our allies. So on March 22nd, I talked with Mr. Sullivan, and I said, “I know, it is complicated and there are no great choices, but count me in for the idea. We will not withdraw all forces in Afghanistan until the conditions are ripe to tell the American people we left honorably and America is safer.” I told Mr. Sullivan that I would support President Biden’s decision to accept military advice to keep a residual force of several thousand as an insurance policy against another 9/11. (03:55)
The result of this decision today by President Biden, is his canceling insurance policy that in my view would prevent another 9/11, because I believe with all my heart and soul after 50 something trips to the region that a few thousand Americans watching over there would make it hard for Al-Qaeda and ISIS to reorganize, to hit us over here. Those eyes and ears will be gone. I don’t trust the Taliban to look out for American interest, but we’re finding ourselves in a very precarious situation. Again, there are no great outcomes, but this is the worst possible outcome is to pull up and leave and hope that things will turn out well. That did not happen in Iraq, and it did not happen here. But I want to let the American people know that I felt it was incumbent upon me to tell President Biden that I will be with you if you accept sound military advice, even though some people in my party may not. (04:57)
I felt it was incumbent upon me to stand up to Trump decisions that I thought would make us less safe, and work with President Trump. And I’m glad to say that President Trump listened, adjusted his policies, and I would like to end the war in Afghanistan as much as anybody. I think I have seen Afghanistan up close and personal and understand the sacrifice America has made, understand the thousands that have died, and the tens of thousands that have been injured, and the money spent, but I’ve also understand what the Afghan people have gone through. I understand what it’s like for a woman to go to school when she’s threatened every day. I understand what it’s like to take on some of the most radical forces in your own faith, to risk your family, to try to change your country. (05:46)
So I am heartbroken that President Biden for political reasons, took the high-risk strategy. I felt incumbent upon me to support him if he went another way, now I feel that it’s incumbent upon me to point out the perils that await us. Everything I’m about to tell you, I hope I am dead wrong. I hope that it works out. If he doesn’t change his mind, and I beg you, President Biden, re-evaluate this, don’t lock yourself in, because things are going to change quickly in Afghanistan for the worst. Al Qaeda and ISIS are going to benefit very quickly from this decision. So I feel like I need to tell the American people why it is in our interest to keep a few thousand troops over there until conditions are ripe. I believe if we leave Afghanistan under the path charted by President Biden, the government will deteriorate rapidly, people will go back to their corners, the Taliban will gain strength in the south and the central government and Kabul will lose it’s ability to effectively manage the country, it’s tenuous already. That the Haqqani network, a terrorist organization, named by our State Department to be a terrorist organization, will reign in the east. The Northern Alliance who are the mortal enemy, the Taliban will reconstitute and form militias in the North. In the West Herat, which is on the border of Iran and major city in Afghanistan, I think the Iranians will have a major influence. (07:23)
What do we lose by pulling out? We lose that insurance policy against another 9/11. We lose listening post in the backyard of some of the most radical movements in the world. Afghanistan has been a platform where we can monitor what’s going on in Iran and other places. We lose all that. What do we gain? We gain the idea that the war is now over, and Joe Biden ended the longest war in American history. With all due respect to President Biden, you have not ended the war, you have extended it. You have made it bigger, not smaller. You’re going to do to us what you did in Iraq, put us in a world of hurt.(08:10)
What did John McCain and Lindsey Graham say about Iraq? General Alston, who was in charge of Iraq, now Secretary of Defense, advised Vice President Biden and President Obama to leave a residual force somewhere around 20,000. I know that was true. Vice President Biden argued for zero. Eventually, it went to zero, and the rest is history. ISIS formed, and if you’ve ever been around the Yazidi people, you know how dangerous that was. The rape and destruction of the Yazidi people, the women is something I have a hard time dealing with, knowing it could have been avoided. This is an unforced error. So it’s just not me saying this. Congress asked the Afghan Study Group to be formed. It was a bi-partisan group led by General Dunford, who was a commander in Afghanistan, Kelly Ayotte, Michele Flournoy, who was under consideration to be secretary of defense under President Biden, and former senator, Joe Donnelly. They spent a long time looking at, “What should we do?” Knowing that they would be advising the new president, whether it be Trump, Biden, or anyone else. And here’s the bottom line. This is a bipartisan group spending a lot of time looking at the options available to us in Afghanistan. According to experts who briefed the study group, a precipitous withdrawal could lead to a reconstitution of the terrorist threat to the US homeland within 18 months to three years. They’re telling, and they brief Secretary Blinken, I know, what would happen. I hope they’re wrong, but I think they’re right. And I know that our military believed that the Taliban were not complying with the agreement negotiated with President Trump, to the point that we could pull all of our forces without risking threat to the homeland. (10:22)
What else do I know? That Congress, unusually, has been bipartisan over this. We had a resolution offered by Senator McConnell, urging the Trump administration not to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan as it could lead to a threat to our homeland, unless conditions were met on the ground and urge them to certify that any withdrawal did not expose the homeland to danger. That was 72 votes. That was a resolution urging the Trump administration, “Don’t pull out of the place, unless the conditions warrant.” We went further, in the 2021 omnibus appropriation bill, there are two provisions. One provision says that no later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, and every 60 days thereafter, until September 30, 2021, the secretary of state submit to such committees, a report detailing and assessing the activities of the Taliban to abide by their commitments in such an agreement or arrangement. That has never been done.(11:34)
The Congress put in the appropriations bill, a periodic report on progress regarding an agreement with the Taliban, whether or not they’re complying. I am calling on Secretary Blinken today to submit your report. It is a part of our law. It’s not advisory. No administration’s above the law. I put this in the law, not knowing who was going to be president, this concept. It goes further. It says that a joint certification by the secretary of state and secretary of defense, that such an agreement or arrangement, or amendment to such an agreement or arrangement will further the objective of setting conditions for the long-term defeat of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and will not make the United States more vulnerable to terrorist attacks originating from Afghanistan, or supported terrorist elements in Afghanistan. That has not been complied with. That is part of our law. And I’m calling on Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin to do the certification required under the law, given President Biden’s decision. (12:44)
Whether you agree with Biden or not, Congress has a role in foreign policy. This is part of the appropriations provisions passed. It Is the law of the land. And I think it is important that the Biden administration comply with it. I think it would be important for any administration to comply with this because it shows that the Congress is uniquely interested in what happens to our nation if we leave Afghanistan under the wrong conditions.
(13:12)
And this started in the Trump administration, it was incredibly bipartisan. And it is a provision of the law that has not been complied with, so I am urging the secretary of state and defense to comply with the law, as written by Congress, to give us the certifications, if you can. And if you can’t, tell us. And I think it would be a good thing to revisit this issue. This is not an advisory piece of legislation. This is the law of the land, and I hope and pray that they will abide by it. And here’s what I tell my colleagues, “You may agree with President Biden, but no president should be able to ignore laws written by Congress that give us the information we need as to what we should do later.” The bottom line is, obey the law. The Afghan Study Group is an independent group, bipartisan, that warned against a withdrawal that was not conditions-based. And what I heard today from President Biden is we’re withdrawing because it’s been too long, withdrawing because America is tired. I can tell America that you may be tired of fighting radical Islam, they are not tired of fighting you. That if we leave Afghanistan under the conditions being proposed by the Biden administration, just to assure as I’m standing here, what happened in Iraq will happen in Afghanistan, but it would be worse. The south would deteriorate quickly, and everybody will go back to their camps, and Al-Qaeda and ISIS will reform, and they will have safe havens. You can’t trust the Taliban to look after our interests. And that’s where we find ourselves.(14:53)
What to do next? President Biden says, “We will support peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, facilitated by the United Nations. We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.” Mr. President, the best people to explain to you why we should stay in Afghanistan with a residual counter-terrorism force are your own military and intelligence community, and people like the Afghan Study Group. They have told you point blank, the high-risk nature of a decision to withdraw because we’re tired of being there, because you want to tell the public 20 years later, “I got us out of Afghanistan.”(15:48)
If you will listen to the military and the intelligence community, they can explain to you why we need to have a residual force to protect the American homeland, because the Afghan Study Group indicated that if we do this the wrong way, within 18 months to three years, there will be threats to our homeland. And all I can say is that, Mr. President, that’s not a fair summary. You had sound advice, you ignored it. This is on you. This is not on the military, this is on you. You’re doing in Afghanistan what you did in Iraq. I went with Senator McCain to sit down with President Obama, to tell him, “If you will stay the course and have a residual force in Iraq, we will back you up.” They decided to go to zero. The rest is history, but Afghanistan is worse than Iraq. This is where the war started. And every terrorist camp in the world is on steroids today, because in their world, they beat us. In their world, they drove us out, and it is so sad. (16:58)
To the women of Afghanistan, I pray for you. You’re in my thoughts. To the women of America, the people who would do what they’re doing to their own women, they would hurt us all. In their world, there is no room, but for one faith on the planet. They would destroy the State of Israel, if they could. They would attack us unrelenting. They have no sense of compassion. They’re religious Nazis. And we have abandoned the construct that has worked to replace it with a construct that is unsound and has not worked every time we’ve done it. Unilateral withdrawal without conditions being met results in, we know what. Iraq, Syria, and now, again, in Afghanistan.

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