Former Navy SEAL Congressman Lays Out 4 Disastrous Results of Harris’ Afghanistan Leadership Failure
In a recent news conference held in Phoenix to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Republican Representative Eli Crane from Arizona criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their handling of the withdrawal. He highlighted four major negative outcomes resulting from the decision, which Harris reportedly supported as “the last person in the room.” Among the concerns raised were the abandonment of U.S. military equipment worth $7 billion, which is now being exploited by terrorist organizations and could threaten American allies. Crane emphasized the dangers posed by leaving behind crucial advanced military gear, such as night vision equipment, which could jeopardize future military engagements.
The congressman also expressed deep concern for Afghan allies left behind, who have faced violent reprisals, and criticized the lack of proper vetting for the 120,000 Afghans evacuated to the U.S. Additionally, Jeannette Garcia, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, shared her distress over the chaotic withdrawal and urged voters to prefer a leadership that, in her view, supports soldiers better than the current administration. The conference underscored the emotional and political ramifications of the Afghanistan withdrawal, which remains a contentious topic in American politics.
Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona argued Friday there were at least four disastrous results of President Joe Biden’s precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Vice President Kamala fully supported.
Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash in April 2021 that she was “the last person in the room” and she was “comfortable” with the decision they made.
Speaking at a news conference in Phoenix with fellow combat veterans present to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. final pull-out on August 30, 2021, the former Navy SEAL noted that Kamala Harris said “she was the last person in that room and, she did sign off, and I want to go through what she signed off on.”
“She signed off on leaving $7 billion of U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment behind. It’s now being used to oppress some of our allies around the world, to kill some of our allies in that region,” Crane said.
“It’s also being sold and those profits are being used to fund terrorism around the world,” he added.
@RepEliCrane said Kamala Harris touted being “the last person in the room” when Biden made his Afghanistan pull out decision, meaning she signed off on a plan that had 4 disastrous results. pic.twitter.com/Fx5SG6VFQ6
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) August 30, 2024
Foreign Policy headlined in July 2023, “The Taliban Are Now Arms Dealers.”
“Terrorists are shopping for left-behind American weapons—and turning them against Washington’s friends around the world,” the outlet reported.
“Left-behind American assault rifles command a premium: an M4 in good condition can fetch up to $2,400, a status symbol with as much cachet in the Himalayan tribal belt as a luxury handbag in Manhattan.”
The stash “included roughly 600,000 weapons of all calibers, nearly 300 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, over 80,000 vehicles of several models, communications equipment, and other advanced materiel such as night vision goggles and biometric systems,” according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The Taliban held a parade earlier this month with some of the American military equipment seized by the group.
The Taliban held a military parade showcasing US weaponry, vehicles and equipment that were left behind by Biden & Harris after the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
This is what America Last looks like… pic.twitter.com/80X3k5o06t
— Brandon Tatum (@TheOfficerTatum) August 14, 2024
Crane said one thing that concerned him the most of the items left behind was the night vision equipment.
“People don’t understand modern warfare and how important that is. I can tell you as somebody who participated in three wartime deployments in Iraq what a foolish maneuver that was because we own the night,” he said.
“Our enemies don’t like to fight us at night because we have night vision capability, and so by leaving that equipment behind you’re ensuring that our allies and our sons and daughters that have to go back into that region and fight some of our adversaries are going to be killed and come home in boxes because we left much of this equipment behind,” Crane added. “That’s exactly what Kamala Harris signed off on.”
The congressman stated that another devastating impact of the decision was that many American allies among the Afghan population were left to be hunted down and killed, often with their family members raped and tortured in front of them first.
Crane said, “Kamala Harris signed off on that” too.
“We also left behind intelligence, very crucial intelligence like biometrics that are now being used to hunt down those very allies that we left behind,” he pointed out.
Finally, he faulted Harris for agreeing to evacuate 120,000 Afghan people without properly vetting them.
“They now came into this country. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know where they’re going, and we don’t know what their intentions are. Does that remind you of something else? Maybe our wide open southern border,” Crane said.
Afghanistan war veteran Jeannette Garcia also spoke at Friday’s news conference.
“I’m here speaking today because as someone who served in Afghanistan, it was troubling to witness the horrific withdrawal that happened three years ago,” she said.
Garcia recounted receiving calls from her former Afghan interpreters begging her to help them get out of the country, but she did have the means to do it living back in the United States.
🚨 LIVE: @TeamTrump is live with @AZGOP Chair @GinaSwoboda, @RepEliCrane, and local Arizona veterans to address the third year anniversary of Kamala Harris’ botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
Watch here: https://t.co/SmWHQIDMz7
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) August 30, 2024
“They risked their lives for me, and now they’ve been left out there, and I don’t know what’s happened to them, due to the disgusting withdrawal,” she said.
“As a woman seeing Vice President Kamala Harris being the female choice of candidate to be the first president of the United States is not something I want to see,” concluded Garcia, who was recently elected to the Avondale, Arizona city council.
Afghanistan war veteran @Jnet_margarita argued on the 3rd anniversary of the disastrous US withdrawal that Kamala Harris should not be the next president. Donald Trump stood for soldiers and had their backs, she said at a Phoenix news conference. pic.twitter.com/XLKhZNdICg
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) August 31, 2024
She urged people to vote for Trump “because he will stand for us.”
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