Biden needs to authorize military to save stranded Americans in Afghanistan, Cotton says

President Biden must authorize the U.S. military to expand the perimeter around the Kabul airport and save Americans who are, in effect, “hostages of the Taliban,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a blistering statement late Thursday.

The Republican pointed to other western countries—like Britain and France—that are said to have deployed teams of specialized forces to extract citizens behind Taliban lines. The Washington Post reported that Paris deployed an elite police team to pick up nationals and Afghans who’ve been sheltering at the city's old French embassy. The report also said that British paratroopers have been deployed on rescue missions. Cotton, who served with the 101st Airborne Division and saw combat in Iraq, said if Biden does not rescue trapped Americans it would amount "to an abandonment of our fellow Americans and a shameful abdication of duty in a moment of crisis." The Biden administration on Thursday acknowledged reports that evacuees were having trouble reaching the international airport and Kabul, which is surrounded by Taliban checkpoints.