Rep. Auchincloss: Taliban Resurgence Shows The 'Futility' Of U.S.'s 20 Years In Afghanistan

As the Taliban Sunday started taking control of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, veterans and U.S. leaders watched as 20 years at war went down the drain.

“The news and the images coming from Afghanistan are appalling to me,” said Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who represents Massachusetts’ 4th District. “It underscores the futility of the American counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan these last 20 years.

“And this president does deserve credit for finally being a Commander in Chief with the integrity to tell the American people and the Afghan government that you cannot win a counterinsurgency without a political solution, and there was no political partner in Kabul to broker that political solution.”

The Taliban entered the capital early Sunday, and later that day, Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

“The United States could stay in Afghanistan and, with American firepower and close air support, we would win every skirmish against the Taliban,” Auchincloss said. “But, at what end game? ... Without a viable political partner in Kabul, the counterinsurgency could not succeed.”

Auchincloss, who was a platoon leader in Afghanistan in 2012, has vocally advocated for the evacuation and protection of Afghan interpreters and their families as troops withdrew over the last several months.

He said that he and others in Congress would hold President Biden to protecting American personnel who are still in Afghanistan, evacuating Afghan allies and maintaining counterterrorism operations in the country.

In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces.

Rep. Seth Moulton, who represents Massachusetts’ 6th District and has similarly pushed for protections for Afghan allies, released a statement Sunday saying that, with the fall of the government, his “worst fear has become realized.”

“The fact that, at this hour, we have not even secured the civilian half of Kabul Airport is a testament to our moral and operation failure,” he wrote. “America and our allies must drop the onerous visa requirement where a typo can condemn an ally to torture and death, and the military must continue the evacuation for as long as it takes.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.