John Kennedy on Afghanistan withdrawal: ‘A circus parade of bad decisions’

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Sep 2, 2021

By Jenny Goldsberry

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) appeared on Hannity Wednesday to rail against President Biden’s bad decision-making when it came to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, his state is recovering from Hurricane Ida.

“The last soldier left Afghanistan on August 30. It was an ignominious day whether you think we should have been in Afghanistan or not,” Kennedy said. “The withdrawal was a circus parade of bad decisions. Some of my colleagues in Washington are trying to spin it otherwise, Sean, but this one is un-spinnable. You can put perfume on a pig, but it still stinks.”

Likely, Kennedy was referring to Sen. Hirono (D-HI) blaming the botched withdrawal on former President Trump. She appeared on CNN Tuesday. “This is a situation that was very much on, in my view, the Trump administration,” Hirono said at the time.

Then, Kennedy saluted those who gave their lives in the evacuation effort. “The 13 servicemen and women who lost their lives in the withdrawal were and are lions,” Kennedy said. “If nothing else, they are the reason you ought to stand up for The National anthem.”

But Kennedy still has all of the stranded Americans on his mind. “Now we are out, but it’s not over. We left Americans behind,” Kennedy said. “We don’t know how many. That’s unconscionable. And we have to get them out. And the message that the Biden administration needs to be sending to the Taliban today is this: ‘Until we get all of our people out, if you, the Taliban, hurt a hair on their head, we will chase the killers down like a hound from hell, and we will kill you and hurt you the entire time you are dying.’ Period. End of discussion.”

Finally, the Louisana senator also advocated for Afghan allies, saying he wouldn’t want to leave any behind either. As of Monday, the U.S. military evacuated over 123,000 people. Among them were Americans and Afghans.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.