A group of House GOP members sent a Thursday letter to President Biden demanding that a complete unedited transcript of his phone call with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, where he supposedly encouraged him to make it seem as though his government was holding out against the Taliban, be released.
The letter was led by NY Rep. Claudia Tenney and was signed by 26 other GOP members. In it, the lawmakers slammed Joe Biden’s management of the withdrawal from the nation of Afghanistan after 13 United States service members were murdered in a terrorist attack at an airport and demanded that Biden release the whole, unedited transcripts of his July 23 discussion with Ghani to the public.
Biden urged Ghani to say to the world they could handle the Taliban, mentioning the crucial “perception” when it came to the Afghan Security and the government’s ability to stop the Taliban from overthrowing the nation, Reuters said.
A transcript of this call published by Reuters spoke about parts of the July 23 call during which Biden pushed Ghani to “change the perception” by unveiling a new military strategy.
“In the time leading up to this withdrawal, your White House made a set of false assurances to the American public and our allies about the situation in Afghanistan. The contrast between your spin and the reality showed a bewildering lack of strategy, coherence and fundamental transparency. It seemed repeatedly as if your Admin. was engaging in a deliberate effort to hide the truth and mislead Americans. On Aug. 31, new evidence showed that suggests it is what you were doing since this operation started,” the letter reads.
“Reuters gave out excerpts from a July 23 discussion between yourself and former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during which you reportedly pushed Ghani to ‘project an alternative picture’ than the reality you saw on the ground ‘whether it’s true or not.’ These transcripts also reveal that you pledged to give air support to the Afghanistan military, a promise you never fulfilled,” the lawmakers said.
“This damning call further removes your credibility and the confidence that the American public has in your ability to lead. Your disturbing emphasis on the public ‘perception,’ a term you used as much as four times in these Reuters excerpts of your call with Ghani, over truth and substance demands more scrutiny and better accountability,” they added.
“We do hereby request the complete and unedited transcripts of your July 23 discussion with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani so we can determine how you may have deliberately misled the American public,” the lawmakers concluded.
Author: Scott Dowdy