Mike Garcia Calls for Department of Defense to Take Command in AfghanistanJoins Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business’ Varney & Co.
Washington,
August 27, 2021
Tags:
National Security
Representative Mike Garcia (CA-25), who served as a U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot in the Global War on Terror, appeared on Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream and Fox Business’s Varney & Co to discuss the tragic attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan and the actions needed to both prevent further tragedy and evacuate all Americans and Afghan allies. On Varney & Co, Garcia highlighted the urgent need to disregard the August 31 withdrawal date and stay in the country until all Americans and Afghan allies are evacuated, not just the majority. “What I want is for this President to be a little more upset over the fact that we just lost 13 U.S. military personnel. What I want is for him to be little more upset about the fact that we have thousands of Americans stranded in Afghanistan—and we still do not know the exact number to this date. I want him to revoke the 8/31 pull out date,” said Garcia on Varney & Co. Garcia warned of the weak message President Biden’s decisions are sending to U.S. adversaries on the global stage. “This is a continuation of [the President’s] unnecessary concessions to countries like Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, the tyrannical regime in Cuba. We see this over and over again, the tendency to kowtow to the bad guys, rather than giving hope to the good guys—in this case to our civilians and military personnel in Afghanistan, as well as our allies,” said Garcia on Varney & Co. On Fox News at night, Garcia emphasized the need to transition operational control in Afghanistan from the State Department to the Department of Defense (DoD), stating the need for this mission to be treated as a military operation. “The absolute most critical causal factor to all of this is that the President decided early on that this was going to be a diplomatic mission instead of a military operation. He allowed the Department of State to run this operation with support from the Department of Defense, and Secretary Austin, rather than the other way around,” said Garcia on Fox News @ Night. Garcia insisted on Fox News @ Night that the overall goal in Afghanistan should be ensuring the safe evacuation of all Americans and Afghan allies. “We need to have a strong presence here and redefine this mission as ‘get all Americans home alive’,” said Garcia on Fox News @ Night. Last night, Garcia sent a letter to President Biden demanding that he shift operational control from the State Department to the Department of Defense and for the extension of the 8/31 date until all Americans and Afghan allies are evacuated safely. Yesterday, Garcia released a statement on the tragic attacks in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. troops as well as over 90 Afghans. Click here to watch Garcia’s interview on Fox Business. Click here to watch Garcia’s interview on Fox News @ Night. |