WASHINGTON — North Dakota’s U.S. senators have raised criticism of the Biden Administration’s handling of Afghanistan in light of Taliban advances in that county.

“President Biden is responsible for the tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan. When he announced his withdrawal plans months ago, he confidently reassured the world Afghanistan’s army is prepared for it. Clearly, the opposite is true,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Senate Armed Services Committee member. “The Taliban is taking over the country with devastating precision and virtually no opposition before we even reached the president’s planned final withdrawal date of August 31.”

Cramer noted the administration claimed they knew the atrocities could happen but had no choice because of actions by the previous administration.

“They present no good answer for why they didn’t have a better response plan if they knew this could happen, or why their hands are now tied by the previous president but they are free to undo a litany of his other actions,” he said. “We were warned President Biden has been wrong about every major foreign policy decision for decades, and now the people of Afghanistan are becoming the latest victims of his poor judgment. His decision to withdraw American forces by the end of August has been a failure. There are ways to conduct a proper withdrawal, but that is not what this administration has done. Those were President Biden’s decisions to make, and now the fallout is his responsibility to fix. It’s time to stop the pathetic posturing and partisan bickering. The world is watching, and right now, only our adversaries like what they see.”

“We need to get control of the situation to protect American lives in Afghanistan as well as the lives of our allies and partners,” said Sen. John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. “We need answers from the Biden Administration regarding the unfolding security and humanitarian crisis, as well as an explanation of why the administration did not have a better plan in place for the withdrawal of U.S. forces and personnel. I am deeply concerned that the way in which we have withdrawn from Afghanistan will embolden al Qaeda and other terrorists to harm Americans both in the region and around the world.”