Hawley slams Biden as 'dangerous,' demands top officials resign amid Afghanistan withdrawal fallout

EXCLUSIVE – Republican Sen. Josh Hawley will force a vote on President Biden's State Department nominees Thursday, blaming Biden for the planning and execution of the "disastrous" withdrawal of U. S. military assets from Afghanistan, while warning that his failure to accept responsibility is "dangerous," and demanding that his top national security and defense officials resign.

The Senate, this week, is voting on a number of State Department nominees, after Hawley, R-Mo., last week announced he placed a "hold" on them, forcing a vote on the Senate floor on nominees that otherwise would have easily been confirmed.

"There’s gotta be accountability for what has happened in Afghanistan. It was a total debacle," Hawley said. "It is Joe Biden’s fault. He planned it. He executed it. It was a disaster."

Hawley slammed the president, saying his "conduct" has been a "disgrace."

"It is not acceptable to abandon hundreds of American civilians to the enemy. It is not acceptable to see 13 American soldiers die and say it was an ‘extraordinary success’ – those are Joe Biden’s words," Hawley told Fox News. "That is ridiculous. It is outrageous. It is offensive, and it is also not acceptable to say this is somebody else’s problem, but not ours."

Hawley, slamming the Biden administration for failing to "take any responsibility" for the botched withdrawal, went on to demand that Biden’s top national security officials resign.

"[Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin ought to resign. [Secretary of State] Tony Blinken ought to resign. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, he ought to resign, at a minimum," Hawley said. "And so far, to my knowledge, Biden has fired nobody. He has not even admitted he has done anything wrong."

"I think he doesn’t want to admit that there was any failure at all," Hawley continued. "This is the guy who still says this was a ‘great success,’ and if it was such a success, why would you fire anybody? He is totally, totally out of touch with reality and it is dangerous."

The Biden administration executed a full withdrawal of all U. S. military assets from Afghanistan on Aug. 31, after having a presence in the region for 20 years following the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The withdrawal of U.S. forces came after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

The Biden administration said its mission in the country shifted from a military mission, to a diplomatic one, with the State Department now working to evacuate the known remaining American citizens in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan allies. The Biden Administration said it successfully evacuated 124,000 individuals from Kabul – 6,000 of which were American citizens.

"There are hundreds of American civilians left behind enemy lines, and they are still there," Hawley said. "There are still Americans trapped there, left to ISIS, left to the Taliban. It is... (Read more)

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