Hoeven Presses Biden to Outline Plans for Afghanistan

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven this week joined Senator John Cornyn in pressing President Biden to outline the administration’s plans following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. In the letter, Hoeven and his colleagues press the president for answers on several unanswered, urgent issues, including the administration’s plans to: 

• Evacuate Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and other vulnerable Afghans;
• Ensure that Al Qaida does not resurge and regain a foothold in Afghanistan;
• Disable any air forces that operate under orders from the Taliban;
• Counter China’s growing relationship with the Taliban;
• Ensure that the Taliban does not destabilize neighboring Pakistan, and;
• Ensure that Afghanistan, under Taliban occupation, will never acquire a nuclear weapon.

“The consequences of withdrawal from Afghanistan are not isolated to that country, or even to the Middle East region. The withdrawal carried geopolitical and strategic consequences that have already begun to unfold and will reverberate for decades. Dealing with these consequences means that we must take action now to chart the course for American strategy, while we manage the immediate repercussions of this self-inflicted crisis in Afghanistan. We do not have the luxury of time to sit by watching in resignation as the aftershocks of this crises shake the world,” the senators wrote.

The full text of the letter is available here.

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