Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded answers from President Joe Biden’s administration Monday regarding Floridians still trapped in Afghanistan, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Directed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the governor’s letter comes a day ahead of the planned Aug. 31 Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, though many more people need to be evacuated as the last U.S. flight left Kabul, effectively marking the end of the 20-year war.
“As President Biden’s self-imposed August 31, 2021 evacuation deadline approaches and the situation rapidly deteriorates, the continued lack of information sharing is unacceptable,” DeSantis wrote.
“The crisis in Afghanistan is of President Biden’s own making, yet the consequences extend beyond the borders of Afghanistan and into the United States,” DeSantis wrote. “Governors need transparency on accelerated evacuation efforts.”
The governor not only requested information on how many Floridians remain in Afghanistan but also on what the administration is doing to ensure the safe evacuation of all American citizens and all eligible Afghan partners.
He also asked the Biden administration how many Afghans are being evacuated to the U.S. and where they are going, what the vetting process for the Afghans is, how many evacuees have been flagged for possible ties to terrorism and what will happen to American citizens and Afghan allies who are “left in harm’s way on September 1, 2021.”
“The current situation on the ground in Afghanistan was avoidable and predictable,” he wrote. “It will impact the safety of Americans and military partnerships for decades to come.”
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