NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Your World with Neil Cavuto to discuss the dire situation in Afghanistan.
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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on Biden’s failure and need for a coherent plan in Afghanistan: “We should do whatever it takes to save and preserve American lives. What we should have is a coherent plan. That’s what I haven’t seen. As you know, before I took on the position of Senator, I served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, the third largest economy in the world. At any point in time, we had over a quarter of a million Americans in Japan, every Chief of Mission under their authority is responsible for those lives and have a plan to evacuate people. I redid mine as soon as I got to Japan, because as you remember, North Korea was launching rockets over us at that point. But I had a plan in place, a workable plan to move and flow Americans out of the country under any type of contingency. We’re not seeing that type of planning in place here. That’s responsible leadership that’s lacking here right now.”
Hagerty on reality of Taliban controlling Afghanistan: “Let me be clear, Neil: the Taliban are terrorists. There was an agreement put in place last year where the Taliban were going to agree to a ceasefire. They’re going to abide by the Afghan constitution. There would be a negotiated process where the Taliban would actually work with the Afghan government, not attack them. What we’ve seen take place here is a military coup d’etat, we can’t begin to recognize a government like this.”
Hagerty on dire situation throughout Afghanistan: “What I’m hearing is that girls’ schools are being burnt, that revenge lists are being executed, that they are going door to door, looking for people who have cooperated with America. So again, I hope that’s not the case. We certainly don’t want it to be the case, but you know, I have had plenty of experience looking at the Taliban, what they’re capable of, and I think that we need to be extremely concerned about their word versus deeds.”