Following the two deadly attacks near the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, several Republican leaders once again took aim at President Joe Biden for failing to properly plan an organized exit from the Middle Eastern country, which the U.S. had occupied for the last 20 years.
Former South Carolina Republican Governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday called for the Democratic president's resignation, but lamented Vice President Kamala Harris' leadership, or lack thereof.
"Should Biden step down or be removed for his handling of Afghanistan? Yes," Haley took to Twitter to share on Thursday. "But that would leave us with Kamala Harris which would be ten times worse. God help us," adding a hashtag that lamented, "it didn't have to be this way" and #AfghanistanDisaster.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri also took to Twitter to blast President Biden and blame him for the disastrous situation in Afghanistan, writing, "To say that today's loss of American lives in Kabul is sickening does not begin to do justice to what has happened. It is enraging."
Thursday's deadly attack claimed the lives of 13 U.S. troops, including four U.S. Marines. A number of other U.S. troops were wounded, while 60 Afghans perished and 140 others were wounded.
"Joe Biden is responsible. It is now clear beyond all doubt that he has neither the capacity nor the will to lead," Sen. Hawley wrote. "He must resign."
According to Fox News, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina had previously called for the impeachment of President Biden, while Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called for the Democratic leader and his Vice President Harris, along with several national security officials to resign.
Blackburn declared, "Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin and General Milley should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office."
Republican Congress members also expressed their disapproval over President Biden's handling of the Afghanistan exit, with New York Representative Elise Stefanik taking to Twitter to say that the President of the United States has "blood on his hands.
"This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the result of Joe Biden's weak and incompetent leadership," Rep. Stefanik wrote. "He is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief."
On Thursday, President Biden declared that he bears responsibility for the "messy" evacuation operations in Afghanistan. During a press briefing on Thursday, he told Fox News' Peter Doocy, "I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that's happened."
President Biden recounted how his predecessor, Republican former President Donald Trump "made a deal with the Taliban that he would get all American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1" and in return the Taliban promised not to attack any American forces. But when asked if the Democratic leader thinks Americans have a problem with how the withdrawal process was undertaken, President Biden bowed his head and rested his face on his hands in defeat.
President Biden responded, "I think they have an issue that people are likely to get hurt, some as we've seen have gotten killed, and that it is messy." The Democratic leader earlier this year extended the Trump administration's deadline of evacuation from May 1 to September 11, but announced in July that the military mission in Afghanistan would end on August 31. On August 15, the Taliban took over Kabul and most of Afghanistan.
