Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said Tuesday that the world witnessed “the Mona Lisa of incompetence” as the Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan commenced. The senator criticized the president for leaving behind American citizens and billions of dollars worth of military equipment.
“I don’t know who President Biden had in charge of this thing. It looks like he put Gavin Newsom in charge.”
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“What we have witnessed — and I mean, by we, I mean our world — is stunning incompetence. Breathtaking incompetence. The Mona Lisa of incompetence,” Kennedy said on “Fox & Friends,”
“Now there are good arguments to withdraw. There are good arguments to keep a limited force, air cover in Afghanistan but there are no good arguments for what the world has watched,” he continued.
Kennedy said he had been talking to “pro-American” foreign leaders from NATO and said, “They are humiliated.”
“They are angry and they’re scared,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘Why Don’t We Just Go And Kill Them’: Former Navy SEAL Who Killed Obama Says US Should Stop Negotiating With the Taliban)
“We left behind the equipment, weapons, we gave them to the enemy, and the White House says … well we got out all but 200 [Americans]. Right, and I hope that I’m wrong. But the people we left behind, the Taliban, they’re going to gut these people like a fish. They’re going to kill them and hurt them the entire time they are there and this didn’t have to happen.
Kennedy suggested it will be difficult for the Biden administration to pivot from this story because “this is a tattoo on President Biden and a tattoo on America.”
The senator indicated that it might not be too late to evacuate all Americans and allies but first “the White House needs to grow some oranges and get tougher with the Taliban and tell them, ‘Look, we’re going to get our people out.’ I mean, that’s my biggest concern.”
TOPSHOT – Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid (C) gestures as he addresses the first press conference in Kabul on Aug. 17, 2021 following the Taliban stunning takeover of Afghanistan. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi / AFP) (Photo by HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)
On Monday almost 90 retired generals and admirals signed off on a letter demanding the resignation of both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. (RELATED: ‘These People Disgust Me’: Former Marine Says Biden Administration Only Worried About Polls, Not Fallen Soldiers)
Although Biden promised to evacuate every American from Afghanistan the U.S. reportedly left the country with “hundreds” still there.
During her Friday media briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that “clearly, something went wrong” with the Afghanistan withdrawal but then scolded one reporter for questioning the decisions that the Biden administration made in planning and executing the operation.