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Rubio criticizes Blinken over chaos after withdrawal from Afghanistan

WASHINGTON ā€“ Sen. Marco Rubio confronted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he testified Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Rubio said he had been tracking the situation ā€œvery closelyā€ and he believes the Biden administration should have planned for the rapid collapse of the Afghan military since the Afghan government was still fractious and corrupt.

ā€œChina, Russia, Iran look at this botched withdrawal and they see incompetence that they could exploit, which may lead to miscalculation,ā€ Rubio said.

The swift Taliban takeover of Afghan President Ashraf Ghaniā€™s administration prompted questions about former President Donald Trumpā€™s February 2020 conditional deal with the Taliban and Bidenā€™s planning. Sen. Bob Menendez chaired the meeting.

Trumpā€™s deal required that the Taliban renounce al-Qaida and the Islamic State. President Joe Biden, who also wanted the withdrawal of U.S. troops, announced his withdrawal decision in April. Biden delayed Trumpā€™s May deadline to September.

ā€œThe choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban,ā€ Biden said on Aug. 16, adding he did not want to commit more troops to Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Rubio told Blinken that he was not debating the withdrawal; he was arguing there were failures of policy and planning.

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Torres contributed to this report from Miami.


About the Authors
Ben Kennedy headshot

Ben Kennedy is an Emmy Award-winning Washington Bureau Chief for Local 10 News.

Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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