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Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, has long supported for a plan to remove over 18,000 Afghan interpreters, friends, and their families from Afghanistan before U.S. soldiers leave. President Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday, he told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith,” was a step in the right direction. “For all of our Afghan friends and allies, this was a major win today,” said Moulton, a Marine who spent four tours in Iraq. “I’ve been pressing the [Biden] administration for three things in particular for the previous several weeks: a comprehensive strategy, a commander to lead it, and a commitment to see the mission through, and today the president addressed all three.” Moulton said he’d like to know the specifics of how the US will “bring Afghan interpreters from far-flung, rural portions of the nation to a central evacuation point” because the president didn’t identify a commander. Biden said that the US military will leave Afghanistan by August 31, roughly two weeks ahead of his original timetable of September 11. In his speech, he underlined that the United States will “continue to make sure that we take on the Afghan nationals who work side-by-side with US forces,” and that the US had “already drastically sped the procedural time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States.” Shepard Smith, the show’s host, also questioned Moulton if he believes the Taliban will seize control of Afghanistan if the United States leaves. Regardless of the outcome, Moulton stated that the United States should be prepared. “Look, the bottom line is that we have to be prepared for either scenario,” Moulton said. “One of the questions I’m going to ask in detail, especially in classified sessions with the Armed Services Committee, is what contingency plans they have for the possibility that the Taliban simply overruns the Afghan government.” After a reporter asked if the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan was inevitable, Biden defended the US military’s hasty exit. “The Afghan Army have 300,000 well-equipped troops and an air force, as well as an air force, versus something like 75,000 Taliban,” Biden added. “It’s not a foregone conclusion.” While Moulton does not have as much faith in the Afghan security forces as Biden does, he believes the president is correct in saying “we have equipped them with a lot of capabilities.” Around 2,300 US servicemen have died and many more have been injured in America’s longest war. Since the battle began, more than 100,000 Afghans have been killed or injured, according to estimates. According to the Department of Defense, the US has spent $825 billion on combat activities, according to a CRS study for Congress. The White House did not react to CNBC’s request for comment right away./nRead More

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