Democrats Join GOP Pouring Scorn on Blinken Over Afghan Exit
- Senator Menendez says pullout was ‘clearly and fatally flawed’
- Barrasso calls Biden portrayal the ‘lie of the 21st century,’
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The Biden administration came in for a second round of withering criticism in Congress on Tuesday over its handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, with Democrats joining Republicans in accusing officials of bungling the pullout and painting too glossy a picture of how it unfolded.
Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the withdrawal was “clearly and fatally flawed,” and scorched President Joe Biden and his team for failing to anticipate the Taliban’s speedy takeover of Afghanistan. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said a swift government collapse “was a possibility that had to be grappled with.”