WASHINGTON: Two members of the US House of Representatives traveled to Afghanistan on Tuesday, pushing a warning from Nancy Pelosi’s home speaker, who said such a trip could divert resources from American evacuation and at risk of Afghanistan.
Representatives of Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and Peter Meijer, a republican, both on duty in the Iraq war before running for Congress, said in a statement they went to Kabul to gather information as part of the Congress supervision role.
“America has a moral obligation to our citizens and loyal allies, and we must ensure that the obligation is being saved,” they said in a statement released after they left Kabul, after seeing conditions at the airport.
When their visit was published, Pelosi sent a letter to a member of a house that did not mention Moulton or Meijer but warned that the Pentagon and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had asked parliamentarians not to travel to Afghanistan “so far.” Pelosi, a Democrat, told reporters a large number of houses wanted to go to Afghanistan, but he said in a travel letter like it was not wise.
“Members of travel to Afghanistan and the surrounding countries do not need to divert the required resources from the Mission of the American and Afghanistan Priority which is safe and quickly at risk of Afghanistan,” he said.
Moulton and Meijer said they left Kabul on the plane with empty seats and they sat in the only crew chair “to ensure that no one needs a seat to lose one because of our presence.” Parliamentarians said before their visit wanted President Joe Biden to extend the August 31 deadline for evacuation to conclude and troops A.S.
to leave the country.
“After talking to the commander on the ground and see the situation here, it is clear that because we started the evacuation so late, that whatever we did, we would not convey everyone on time, even on September 11,” they said.
Biden has arrived under fire because it did not start evacuation faster and for chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport, where Americans and Afghans were vulnerable to abroad after the Taliban takeover.
The President said on Tuesday that troops A.S.
Now it has helped evacuate 70,700 people since August 14.
He added the United States at speed to resolve the evacuation from Afghanistan on August 31 but that achieved a sustainable goal of the Taliban.