Colorado Rep. Jason Crow on fall of Kabul: “We didn’t need to be in this position”

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who served 2 combat tours successful Afghanistan, said Monday that President Joe Biden’s medication should person evacuated thousands of Afghan allies respective months agone and warned that their lives are present astatine risk.

“I’m not going to mince my words connected this: We didn’t request to beryllium successful this position,” the Centennial Democrat said during a quality conference. “We didn’t request to beryllium seeing the scenes we’re seeing astatine Kabul’s airdrome with our Afghan friends climbing aboard C-17s.”

“We should person started this evacuation months ago,” Crow added. “Had we done that, tens of thousands of folks could person been brought to safety. It could person been done deliberately and methodically. That was a missed opportunity.”

The collapse of Afghanistan’s government implicit the play has near tens of thousands Afghans who translated for oregon different helped U.S. soldiers hopeless for a mode retired of the country. Those who stay fearfulness they volition beryllium killed by the Taliban, a panic radical that controls the country.

Senate Television via AP

In this representation from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora., speaks during the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump astatine the U.S. Capitol connected Friday, Jan. 24, 2020.

Crow and respective different congressmen from some governmental parties utilized the quality league to impulse the Biden medication to bash immoderate is militarily indispensable to keep unfastened Kabul’s airport, which had closed erstwhile Afghans tried to cling to the broadside of a plane.

Last month, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed Crow’s bill to summation the fig of peculiar migration visas for Afghan citizens. The U.S. Senate passed a akin measure and it was signed into instrumentality astatine the extremity of July, adding 8,000 visas. But lone a fewer 1000 refugees person arrived successful the U.S.

“They’re surviving heroes but they’re not going to beryllium surviving for agelong if we don’t enactment today,” Tom Perriello with the pro-refugee radical Open Society U.S. said during the quality conference.

Colorado Republicans placed blasted for the deteriorating concern squarely connected Biden. The Colorado GOP called retired Crow and different Colorado Democrats by sanction Sunday, urging them to “put speech their unsighted loyalty to President Biden” and request helium bash more.

“This is worse than Saigon and volition spell down arsenic 1 of Joe Biden’s top failures,” said U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs. “This debacle volition reverberate crossed clip and space, damaging our representation and sowing coercion and chaos passim an already volatile region.”

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican, tweeted Monday, “If Biden leaves our Afghan allies behind, helium volition beryllium single-handedly liable for the demolition of our nation’s planetary credibility.” Buck besides urged Americans stuck successful Afghanistan to telephone his bureau for assistance.

“Joe (Biden) has a 48 twelvemonth past of making atrocious decisions,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Silt Republican, tweeted Sunday. “Add this weekend’s overseas argumentation decisions to the list.”

That tweet drew a effect from Crow, who criticized Boebert for being 1 of 16 House members who voted against the visas bill. Boebert tweeted backmost that she voted against it due to the fact that amendments she supported were not added to the bill.