GOP senator calls for US to have a ‘light’ military presence in Afghanistan

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Sunday called for the U.S. to maintain a “light footprint” in Afghanistan to combat potential terrorists in the country in light of the Taliban taking control of the country’s capital.

Speaking to “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, Sasse argued that President Biden should make it clear that he could change his mind on the U.S. withdrawal if any aggression is made towards American citizens and allies.

Wallace argued that this sort of action would essentially be re-engaging in war with the Taliban.

“First of all, the false choice that the President has laid out again and again and again for months has never been true. The choice has never been between zero troops and just withdrawing and giving the Taliban back a sanctuary to allow terrorists to plot attacks of international reach or on the other hand, having 150,000 occupying ground forces,” Sasse said. 

“So that was never the choice, and that’s always been false, we need an asset — light, light footprint but a forward deployment of special forces that can stop these kind of terror attacks,” Sasse added, saying Biden’s “incompetence” has potentially set the stage for a hostage situation to occur.

Sasse has been among the most vocal of critics on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Afghan government fell to Taliban forces in the last week.

After Taliban fighters entered Kabul last Sunday, Sasse condemned what he called the “Trump-Biden doctrine of weakness” that resulted in Taliban’s takeover.

“I don’t think the American people fully appreciate the danger and the peril into which the president has put us, because one RPG, taking down a plane onto that runway means we’re stranded,” he stated.

He later stated that the situation in Afghanistan was “worse than Saigon,” referring to the U.S.’s swift withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975 after the Viet Cong took over the city of Saigon.