‘Absolutely Not’ Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) Says U.S Isn’t On Track To Get Americans Out Of Afghanistan Before Deadline
Listen To The Full Interview Below:
Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) joined Fox News Radio’s Guy Benson Show to discuss the withdraw of U.S forces out of Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover of the country.
Rep. Cheney said
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And that’s based on discussions with people who are talking to folks on the ground. That’s based on briefings that we’ve had here, which you know, I’m not going to talk about in detail, but we are not on track. And the damage, the devastation to America’s role as a superpower to America’s ability to defend ourselves, to defend our allies, the damage is incalculable. If we have now gotten into a position where we are depending upon the Taliban, which they are our enemy, depending upon them, radical Islamic terrorists to secure, to — to provide for the safe travel and safe passage of U.S. citizens — and the fact that the president of the United States doesn’t understand that, the fact that our senior military leaders aren’t being absolutely direct and clear with him, the long damage to our interest, our security, to our armed forces of any message other than, we will get our people out, if you do not allow us to get our people out you will face consequences like you cannot imagine, and — and they will be severe, and they will be swift — that is the message that the Taliban ought to be receiving, and anything else is an abdication of American leadership and authority in the world.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
GUY BENSON, FOX RADIO HOST: And let’s bring in our first guest on the show today, it is Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming. Congresswoman, good to have you.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Hi, Guy. Thanks for having me, appreciate it.
BENSON: I just want to read to you a few things that are coming across the wire now in the last few minutes and get your reaction. And I just want to start by saying this. I do not want to sound hysterical. I do not want to overstate things. I don’t want to get breathless. But it is starting to seem like there might be a very, very bad situation starting to play out — I mean, worse than what we’ve seen so far on the ground in Kabul. Richard Engle from “NBC News” tweeted 10 minutes ago the U.S. Embassy issued its last alert for U.S. citizens to leave Afghanistan or they’re on their own. Then they recalled that message half an hour later, which is just chaotic.
CHENEY: Yes.
BENSON: We now have this from “Politico”, the Taliban according to three sources on the ground – the Taliban has now started halting all people trying to get through the airport gates — not just Afghans, but also American citizens. Informal groups are coordinating, and they need to redirect people on the fly, because the Taliban, according to “Politico” and their sources on the ground — the Taliban has started blocking everyone from getting to the airport, including U.S. citizens. And the president has had his statement now pushed back for hours, Congresswoman. You start to look at all of these things being reported, and I don’t know, I just have a feeling that perhaps a bad situation is deteriorating very rapidly, and it is frightening. Your reaction?
CHENEY: Well, you know, I wish that I could tell you that that’s not the case Guy. But I share your concern. You know, what we are watching happen is a catastrophe, and it has been certainly for the last, you know, number of days here. But, you know, we are in a position where the Taliban are not hearing the right message from us. The message that they ought to be hearing from us right now is, we will get every American out, and if you prevent us from doing that, you’ll suffer serious and severe consequences. We never should have been in the situation we’re in. We never should be in a position where we’re trying to get people out only through the airport in Kabul. There is a whole range of missteps and bad decisions here that go back to 2020. But President Biden’s decision against the advice of his military leaders to completely withdrawal by a date certain, to launch these, you know, negotiations — and I think one of the things, frankly, people will be looking at for a long time to come is, what concessions are we right now making to the Taliban? What have we promised them? Are we paying them? What are they demanding in terms of additional releases, for example, of terrorists that we might be holding? You know, we are in a situation that is a travesty, and that’s going to do huge damage, you know, certainly right now and in the long-term to America’s strength and standing in the world. And — but I’m very worried about the immediate, you know, crisis that American citizens, you know, could be facing on the ground in Kabul as we speak.
BENSON: The White House has put out a statement within the last few minutes, because we’ve all been waiting for hours for the president to speak, so in the interim they put out this statement. And Congresswoman, you just said in your view what the message to the Taliban ought to be, i.e., us calling the shots, us making demands. This is what the White House — I’m reading directly from their press release, quote, “Completion of the mission by August 31 depends on the continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport.” They’re saying we can’t do it without the Taliban. That’s the White House in black and white put out minutes ago.
CHENEY: Yes, I mean look, it is outrageous. It’s outrageous that we have ever, you know, believed that the Taliban was some kind of a partner for peace. You know, that the reports that we have on the ground now, for example, are that you’ve got this Badri 313 organization that is essentially the Special Forces connected to the Haqqani Network. They’re connected to al-Qaeda. They’re operating freely in Kabul. The Taliban has never renounced al-Qaeda. In fact, the leader of the Taliban swears allegiance to the leader and has sworn allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda. So, you know, we — the idea that somehow the Taliban, you know, are calling the shots is an exceedingly dangerous circumstance that we have gotten into because this administration doesn’t understand apparently the strategic importance of having American forces on the ground to help preventing —
(CROSSTALK)
BENSON: Well, can I — can I ask you —
(CROSSTALK)
CHENEY: — save haven.
BENSON: I just want to ask you this because — and I made the point at the top of the show, and as an American, of course, I’m a conservative, and I did not vote for the president, I don’t want to get hyperbolic and overstate things, is it an overstatement –because I’m just trying to use critical thinking and look at the strands of evidence that we have before us — it does not seem like a stretch to say that it at least appears as though the Taliban in a — in a defacto way is calling the shots and making decisions for the U.S. military — you just sort of repeated that — do you think that is the case right now, that the Taliban in some ways is actually dictating U.S. policy?
CHENEY: Yes. Yes. And — and that — that does appear to be the case, and it also is — you know, you are right to — to be — to be stunned by that. You know, here we are just on the verge of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the Taliban harbored al-Qaeda, and as I just walked through, is still very much fighting alongside connected to al-Qaeda. They now control the country, and they are determining whether or not we can get our citizens to the airport and out. That — that is, you know, a dereliction of duty and I don’t say that lightly. There is a dereliction —
(CROSSTALK)
BENSON: Yes, and there’s — and there’s reporting, as I just mentioned, that they have stopped letting people in, including U.S. citizens. What we have now is a whole flurry of these reports where the White House and the administration is saying, we are sticking to the August 31st deadline. It’s what the Taliban insisted on hours ago. Then the president made the quote “decision” that he was going to do what the Taliban said. He said that we are on pace to meet the August 31st deadline in terms of getting everyone that we need to out of that country. But in order to stay on pace we need that Taliban’s coordination and help and that there are “contingency plans,” quote-unquote, in case we need to extend the deadline, which has been rejected by the Taliban. Based on what you are hearing Congresswoman, and I know that you are in frequent contact with a lot of people, with intelligence sources, people on the ground in Afghanistan, based on your best understanding of the situation, are we on track to get everyone that we need to out of that country within the next week?
CHENEY: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And that’s based on discussions with people who are talking to folks on the ground. That’s based on briefings that we’ve had here, which you know, I’m not going to talk about in detail, but we are not on track. And the damage, the devastation to America’s role as a superpower to America’s ability to defend ourselves, to defend our allies, the damage is incalculable. If we have now gotten into a position where we are depending upon the Taliban, which they are our enemy, depending upon them, radical Islamic terrorists to secure, to — to provide for the safe travel and safe passage of U.S. citizens — and the fact that the president of the United States doesn’t understand that, the fact that our senior military leaders aren’t being absolutely direct and clear with him, the long damage to our interest, our security, to our armed forces of any message other than, we will get our people out, if you do not allow us to get our people out you will face consequences like you cannot imagine, and — and they will be severe, and they will be swift — that is the message that the Taliban ought to be receiving, and anything else is an abdication of American leadership and authority in the world.
BENSON: John McCormack, who’s a reporter at National Review, he’s been tweeting out a number of quotes — because the people are listening, and they just heard you and my guest is Congresswoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming, saying it is absolutely not the case that we are on track to get everyone we need to out of the country by the 31st of August even though the White House is insisting today we are on track and we are sticking to that deadline. And that announcement coming just hours after the Taliban said we will not tolerate, there’ll be consequences for any extension or attempted extension of that deadline. If you want to doubt Congresswoman Cheney, John McCormack is tweeting out quotes from Democratic lawmakers who have access to intelligence including Adam Schiff, including Brad Sherman and others saying, we do not believe it is possible to get every American out — not even the Afghans that we owe — we’re talking just American citizens — to get them all out by August 31, Republicans and Democrats alike seem to have reached that conclusion based on what they’re hearing and they’re seeing from the intelligence and sources on the ground. But that seems to be now the policy on which the president and his administration are doubling down, Congresswoman. And all the while you have the press secretary at the White House scolding our colleague Peter Doocy at Fox News for describing any Americans as stranded. She said they’re not stranded. It feels like we’re sort of through the looking glass here.
CHENEY: Well, we are. And, you know, the other thing that we have been hearing is that the White House has specifically asked the Pentagon not to request an extension. Now I have not heard that in briefings today. So I want to be careful about the sourcing of that. But have heard enough to be concerned that this may be the case. That the White House does not want a request from the Pentagon for an extension, and that they’ve sent the message to the Pentagon; do not ask for that extension. Now, you know, that again – if we are in a situation where, you know, the greatest military in the world is unable to insist on the safety and security of American citizens, and is instead living in this fantasy of thinking that we can rely on the Taliban and allowing the Taliban to call the shots, the consequences to our security long term to Americans cause, America’s fight for freedom, they’re really very, very significant. And the White House needs to, in my view, immediately reverse course, immediately make clear we will get our people out and make sure the Taliban understands that — and that our allies and our adversaries understand that around the world.
BENSON: Another piece of news that has broken within the last hour or so, Lucas Tomlinson at Fox reported it, I’m seeing it from other networks as well, that there has been a further drawdown of U.S. troops, military personnel active right now underway coming out of Kabul. And you just said there needs to be a credible threat of reprisals and military action if our people are not allowed to leave. If harm – additional harm — comes to U.S. citizens or U.S. visa holders — we know that some Americans have been beaten by the Taliban in the streets trying to get to the airport. We know that some Afghans with visas have been killed. Those are reports that we heard from “The Washington Post” earlier. If things really go sideways and we really want to have credibility with the Taliban saying, you need to do X,Y, and Z, because we’re going to impose our will. If the Biden administration is now telling the world we’re actually pulling more of our troops out starting now, what message does that send?
CHENEY: Well, it’s a complete lack of any strategic thinking, understanding, any commitment to maintaining America’s supremacy in the world. And look, we maintain our supremacy so that we can defend ourselves, so that our adversaries don’t make miscalculations about our security. And with this one action, President Biden has done more damage to our ability to protect and defend ourselves than certainly any president of the modern era. This is worse than Saigon. We’re in a situation where those who have attacked us in the past, who killed 3,000 Americans, who continue to threaten the United States, who — you know — one of the things that hasn’t been reported is that some of the prisoners who have been released over the course of the last week or so are, in fact, members of external operations teams. These are the al-Qaeda teams specifically targeted with attacking the United States. So, this is an absolute catastrophe from the perspective of the security of the United States of our homeland and from the perspective of our power and our prominence globally. And it all is absolutely unnecessary. You know, if we had maintained 2,500 to 3,500 forces on the ground conducting counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, counterterrorism operations, the Afghans were bearing the brunt of the fight, and we were supporting them. And in a, you know, a matter of just a few weeks here, President Biden’s decision has led us down a path of real danger and imperiled the nation in ways it’s hard to describe.
BENSON: A CNN reporter, Congressman, tweeted a few minutes ago that the Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said that approximately 4,000 Americans have been evacuated out of Afghanistan, 4,000 American passport holders plus their families. Josh Kraushaar of National Journal says, remember the U.S. governments own estimate that 10,000 to 15,000 citizens, U.S. citizens were in the country. That was last week. Do the math. There are thousands of Americans still stranded in Afghanistan and the administration says we are on track. It’s breathtaking. We’ve got to leave it there for now. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, thank you very much for your time today.
CHENEY: Thank you Guy. I appreciate it.
