House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is praising President Joe Biden for the evacuation of more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Pelosi said, “I think the president made the right decision to leave Afghanistan. I think we should have left a long time ago.”
“I do think that the historic evacuation of over 120,000 people was remarkable, and I commend the administration for that. This is never easy. It’s not always complete right from the start, but it was remarkable, even though it got off to a hazy start,” she added.
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Her comments come after the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, as IJR reported. The White House reported that the U.S. successfully evacuated more than 120,000 people since July.
However, the Biden administration admitted that American citizens and Afghan allies were left behind.
Additionally, during the evacuation effort, a suicide bomb killed 13 U.S. service members as well as scores of Afghan civilians at the Hamid Karzai International Airport who were hoping to flee the country.
Pelosi previously praised Biden’s execution of the withdrawal as she said, “May I just say that I commend the president for the action that he took. It was strong, it was decisive, and it was the right thing to do. We should have been out of Afghanistan a while back.”
“Unfortunately, one of the possibilities was that it would be in disarray as it is. But that has to be corrected. It is my understanding from the assurances we have received that the military will be there negotiating with the Taliban for the safe exit of American citizens and friends, people who have helped us, our allies there,” she added.
While Pelosi has offered praise for Biden, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on Monday that he was “deeply frustrated, even furious, at our government’s delay [and] inaction” in working on getting the remaining U.S. citizens and Afghan partners out of the country.