Republican lawmakers are calling for President Joe Biden to resign, citing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan as evidence he is not fit to lead the United States.
The State Department and top Biden administration officials have faced widespread criticism for failing to plan for the Taliban’s near-immediate takeover of Afghanistan once U.S. forces pulled out of the country on Biden’s order. These failures have led Republican lawmakers to call for Biden’s resignation, a demand that is likely to grow louder as Afghanistan descends further into chaos under Taliban rule.
"In addition to a full congressional inquiry, which must happen immediately, today I am reiterating my call for President Biden to resign from office following his unilateral, reckless retreat from Afghanistan," Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Thursday.
Biden’s "mishandling of this crisis shatters all confidence in his ability to serve as our Commander-in-Chief, which is any president’s most sacred responsibility," Tenney said. "As American lives hang in the balance, our president has been isolated from his advisers and asleep at the wheel."
The lawmaker is pushing for a congressional panel to determine if Biden’s "disastrous handling of the crisis was the result of incompetence or some other cause."
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said late Wednesday that Biden "should not remain in office."
"He and his team are just not up to the task at hand and greater and even more consequential challenges will now be ahead as a result," Zeldin said. "He needs to be removed before further damage is done to American citizens and U.S. national security."
The Biden administration continues to struggle with emergency evacuation efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, after the Taliban overran the city and took control of the airport. With 15,000 Americans still trapped in the country, there are mounting concerns the Taliban could try to attack U.S. citizens or potentially take them hostage to extract even more concessions from the administration.