Sen. Tom Cotton: ‘Afghanistan Could Revert into a Terrorist Safe Haven’

EXCERPT:

COTTON: “Trace, I do share those concerns that Afghanistan could revert into a terrorist safe haven from which terrorist could plan and launch attacks. Let’s take a step back and think about why we invaded Afghanistan in the first place and what our central interest is there. It is not to rebuild the nation of Afghanistan. It is not to try to turn Afghanistan into Swiss or Danish style democracies. It was to create the conditions that would protect American lives here at home and around the world. That was true when I was in Afghanistan as an army captain 12 years ago, 8 into this war. We were trying to insure that Afghanistan could not fall back into the hands of groups like the Taliban or al Qaeda and now ISIS and be used to attack the United States. President Biden has not yet explained how we’re going to continue to collect intelligence and conduct strikes against terrorist organizations in Afghanistan if need be to protect the American people. That’s our core interest. That’s the main thing that we must keep our eyes on.”