WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2021) President Joe Biden needs to abandon the August 31 goal of completing the United States' exit from Afghanistan and instead extend the US-controlled perimeter beyond Kabul and the capital's international airport so all Americans and Afghans who cooperated with the US forces can safely leave, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.
"The president needs to forget about the August 31st deadline. We need to send in enough military personnel to rescue our people... extend the deadline, get outside the perimeter make sure that every single American who wants to leave is able to get out with our assistance and our Afghan allies," McConnell told Fox news.
McConnell called Biden's decision to rapidly end the US military presence in Afghanistan one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in US history.
Before the US withdrawal began it had 2,500 service members in Afghanistan.
"We hadn't lost a single American military personal in a year. Taliban barbarians were not in charge of the country. We were keeping the lid on al Qaeda," he said.
The United States has told the Taliban that the August 31 withdrawal deadline depends on the cooperation of the Taliban (banned in Russia), according to media reports. In addition, the Biden administration reportedly asked the Pentagon for contingency plans to stay longer if necessary.
