Crenshaw: ‘We should laugh’ at Taliban when they try to negotiate withdrawal deadline

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) slammed the Taliban for trying to negotiate a deadline for the U.S.’s withdrawal mission from Afghanistan, saying the U.S. “should laugh” when the group tries to set a “red line.”

“We need to send a very clear message to the Taliban: We’re not negotiating about our deadline,” Crenshaw, who served in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, told Politico during an interview on Tuesday.

“That should be the message. We should laugh at them when they say, ‘Oh well that’s a red line for us [and] you need to be out by Aug. 31.’ No,” he added.

Crenshaw also recommended that President Biden deliver a searing warning to the Taliban if the group tries to infringe on the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan.

“And if you get in our way when we are extracting Americans, we will kill you. That is the only message that Biden should be delivering to the Taliban,” Crenshaw said.

The congressman’s comments come as the U.S. is ramping up its efforts to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan amid the deteriorating security situation.

Roughly 21,600 people were pulled from the country between early Monday and Tuesday, according to a White House official, bringing the total number of individuals evacuated since Aug. 14 to 58,700.

Biden on Tuesday said the U.S. is “on a pace” to pull all troops from the region by Aug. 31, the deadline he imposed last month. That statement came after the he was reportedly considering extending the timetable.

The Taliban on Monday expressed strong opposition to the U.S. keeping troops in Afghanistan past the end of August, arguing that extending the “red line” deadline of Aug. 31 would “create mistrust between us.”

Crenshaw, in a tweet on Monday, said the “only proper response from America to these dirty savage terrorists” should be “Go f*** yourself.”

The only proper response from America to these dirty savage terrorists should be:

Go f*** yourself. https://t.co/n6Ip9V3Vwh

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) August 23, 2021

The congressman, during the interview with Politico, rebuffed unfounded claims made by some conservative commentators that Biden purposely let Afghanistan be overrun by the Taliban as a way to bring refugees into the country.

That theory was touted by outspoken conservative Charlie Kirk, who is the founder of Turning Point USA, according to Politifact.

Crenshaw called those claims “a bit paranoid and it’s a bit silly, it’s a bit conspiratorial.”

“When you hear an argument [that Afghanistan] was purposefully bungled just for the sake of bringing refugees home, I just kind of ignore these things,” Crenshaw said.

“That’s probably the right reaction to them,” he added.