Sasse: Biden relied on ‘happy talk’ instead of reality in Afghanistan

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said on Sunday that President Biden relied on “happy talk” instead acknowledging the reality of the situation in Afghanistan, arguing that more people are going to die because of it.

“There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk,” Sasse said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“People have died and people are going to die because President Biden decided to rely on happy talk instead of reality,” he said. “And so they decided to outsource security around the perimeter of the airport to the Taliban.” 

His comments come after an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans last week amid evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport.

Sasse also said on Sunday that the U.S. had given a list of American citizens and Afghan allies to the Taliban to ensure they were granted access to the Kabul airport, describing it as “insane.”

“They passed a list of American citizens and America’s closest allies, people who fought alongside us, they passed those lists to the Taliban, relying on them, thinking they could trust on them. It was stupid then. It’s insane now,” Sasse said. “And their plan still seems to be, ‘Let’s rely on the Taliban because the Taliban cares a lot about what world opinion thinks of them at French restaurants.’ It was a disgusting revelation of yet again no plan.”

Both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and State Department spokesperson Ned Price have pushed back at a Politico report that said administration officials had given lists of names to the Taliban, claiming they did not jeopardize the safety Americans or their allies. 

“The idea that we’ve done anything to put at further risk those that we’re trying to help leave the country is simply wrong. And the idea that we shared lists of Americans or others with the Taliban is simply wrong,” Blinken told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet The Press” Sunday.

“The notion that we are just providing names upon names of individuals who may stay behind in Afghanistan or in a way that would expose anyone to additional risk– that is simply false,” Price said during a Friday news briefing.