CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s speech on Afghanistan:

“President Biden is either divorced from reality or he’s intentionally misleading the nation about what is actually happening in Afghanistan. The evacuation process is a nightmare. It is unconscionable that the most powerful nation on earth won’t guarantee the safe passage of American citizens, instead choosing to put their fate in the hands of the Taliban.

“We can leave no American behind, and we must use all means necessary to bring all Americans back home safely. Anything short of that is a dereliction of duty on the part of our Commander in Chief.

“My office has been working around the clock since last week assisting hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies who are urgently attempting to get to the airport and evacuate.

“President Biden appears to be willfully ignorant to the fact that these American citizens and Afghans are being forced to get through Taliban checkpoints and are having extreme difficulty getting to the airport and inside of it, all while dealing with a mountain of red tape from the State Department. Their journey is especially harrowing as we hear more reports of Americans being beaten and the Taliban going door-to-door to execute Afghans who served alongside American troops.

“It is abundantly clear that the Biden administration was completely unprepared for this with no plan in place to evacuate Americans and our Afghan allies we made promises to. There will be a time to hold government leaders accountable for their grave failures, but the focus now must be on safely evacuating Americans and our Afghan allies. No more excuses and no more arbitrary deadlines, President Biden. Start leading and give our military the support they need to get the job done.”

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