US Rep. Moulton: Afghanistan Chaos Nothing 'Short Of A Disaster'

SALEM, MA — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Salem) slammed American evacuation efforts in Afghanistan as the county at the center of a 20-year war descended into chaos amid a Taliban takeover this weekend.

"To say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest," Moulton said in a statement on Sunday. "Worse, it was avoidable. The time to debate whether we stay in Afghanistan has passed, but there is still time to debate how we manage our retreat."

Moulton said he has been calling on the Biden Administration to evacuate those who supported the 20-year American mission in opposition of the Taliban for months, and "not wait for paperwork, for shaky agreements with third countries, or for time to make it look more 'orderly.'"

Moulton, an Iraq War veteran, said he was proud of Congress for voting to expand the Special Immigrant Visa program to support Afghan residents who helped American interests, but what was needed was an immediate evacuation.

"The fact that, at this hour, we have not even secured the civilian half of Kabul Airport is testament to our moral and operational failure," Moulton said Sunday afternoon. "We need to rectify this immediately. America and our allies must drop the onerous visa requirements where a typo can condemn an ally to torture and death, and the military must continue the evacuation for as long as it takes."

Moulton primarily blamed the Trump Administration and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for negotiating "in secret with the Taliban terrorists last year in order to meet a campaign promise."

He added that Congress should be "ashamed" for not holding votes re-authorizing the conflict, as provided by the U.S. Constitution, and acknowledged the events of this weekend were especially difficult domestically on all veterans who served in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.

"I am too honest to stand here today and try to convince you that your sacrifice was worth it," Moulton allowed. "Some will find solace in the millions of Afghans, especially women and girls, to whom we gave two decades of a taste of freedom — more hope, liberty, and opportunity than they would have ever had without the tireless work and irreparable sacrifices of our troops.

"We accomplished our initial mission: Osama Bin Laden is dead and the threat of terrorist attacks against Americans originating from Afghanistan is diminished. We also provided the security needed to accomplish a peace process that, unfortunately, was never realized."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)