Michael Waltz reveals what military needs to do amid Afghanistan chaos
Florida Republican slams Biden over his handling of the Afghanistan conflict on 'Special Report'
Florida Republican Congressman Michael Waltz, the first Green Beret elected to Congress, called out President Biden for the unfolding catastrophe in Afghanistan caused by the implementation of his withdrawal strategy.
Waltz, who represents Daytona Beach and Palm Coast, told "Special Report" the White House is either engaging in narrative "spin" or is lying about the true situation on the ground in Kabul, where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III stated Taliban militants are assaulting American citizens seeking to escape to the green zone at Hamid Karzai International Airport – a contradiction of the president's own words.
"The contradictions [are] either spin, lies or this administration is either clueless or heartless -- I haven't figured it out yet – or all of the above," Waltz told anchor Bret Baier.
"But we have the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, saying there's no Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. We have his press spokesman saying, ‘Well, they are there, but they are not as much of a threat since 2001.’ You've got the president saying that Americans are getting through, no problem. You have the secretary of defense saying that they are getting beaten at Taliban checkpoints."
Waltz added that Biden is either spinning or being untruthful as well in his claim that America's international allies are unconcerned with the actions of his administration in Afghanistan.
Waltz noted the United Kingdom's Parliament has condemned Biden and that Armin Laschet, the center-right (CDU) party candidate seeking to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany this fall called the crisis "the biggest debacle NATO has suffered since its founding."
"I can't think of a time in modern history where we have looked more feckless and beaten," Waltz added. "And, I'm in touch with special operators downrange, and they are ready to go get our Americans. Their hands are being tied behind their back by this White House."
The retired Green Beret later said the best military strategy at this point is to flip the "fear" dynamic on the ground.
"There just seems [to be] the fear of what the Taliban will do or some type of escalation. We need to put the fear in them, period," he said. "Then it's in their interest [to] not touch a hair on a single American's head. And guess what, Taliban, we are coming in with force, if necessary, to get them out. We don't even know how many are inside Kabul versus out in the hinterlands."
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Waltz suggested that retaking the massive Soviet-built Bagram Air Base northeast of Kabul, which is now under Taliban control, would make it clear to the militants the United States will do whatever it takes and stay as long as needed to protect Americans and those who worked with them during the war.
Waltz said Biden must follow President Gerald Ford's example of dedicating all necessary resources toward extracting Americans from a collapsing country, as he had done at the Vietnamese embassy during the fall of Saigon, which is now Ho Chi Minh City.
The photographs of helicopters extracting people from the top of that embassy that year have been compared to the gripping pictures of planes taking off from HKIA earlier this week with terrified Afghans clinging to the fuselage.