Sasse Statement on Slow-Motion Hostage Crisis

Source: United States Senator for Nebraska Ben Sasse

U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement after Dr. Colin Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, admitted that the number of Americans still in Afghanistan is higher than Biden Administration officials told Congress last week. 

“President Biden is responsible for this slow-motion hostage crisis and his indifference to the life-or-death situation these Americans face is morally indefensible. Americans have been trapped behind Taliban lines for nearly two months, but nobody in the Biden Administration is owning the problem. Instead, they’ve spent weeks gaslighting the public by saying again and again that the number of trapped Americans was ‘around a hundred.’ The President needs to take responsibility and get our people home.”

Background:

Today, Under Secretary Kahl reported that the State Department estimates that there are 439 Americans still in Afghanistan. 

Last week, the State Department told Congress that there were 363 American citizens still in Afghanistan. 

Video of Under Secretary Kahl’s testimony can be found here.