“Biden’s Afghanistan Retreat Will Usher In ‘Year of the Jihad'”

By Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)

Fox News

July 12, 2021

This month, the U.S. military officially vacated Bagram Airbase – our most strategic counterterrorism asset in the region and one of our main buffers against the threats of the People’s Republic of China, Russia and Iran. 

At the same time, the security situation in the country is rapidly deteriorating, with some in the intelligence community reportedly estimating the Taliban could take over in as little as six months after our departure. 

When I met with the Afghan delegation last month, one official told me they anticipate this will be “the year of the Jihad.”

The facts on the ground seem to back that up. The Taliban has taken control of 150 districts since the president’s announcement in May. And they are gaining ground every day. Not only have they taken significant control in many of the more rural areas, they have gained control of key assets, like roads, bridges, border crossings and trade routes in and out of the country. And they appear to be primed to unleash full assaults on more provincial capitals imminently.

This president has a habit of ending up on the wrong side of history. In 2011, then-Vice President Biden was deeply involved in the United States’ withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq. Only three years later, we had to return to Iraq in order to root out the ISIS caliphate that grew in our absence. After a hasty exit, we saw a dire terrorist threat that sought to bring harm to America and our allies.

And now, only a decade after the fateful Iraq drawdown, we are watching as history repeats itself in Afghanistan.

Read the full op-ed here.

###