McConnell pushes Biden to 'hammer' Taliban with airstrikes as Afghanistan spirals

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pressed President Biden to order airstrikes against Taliban forces on Friday following what he described as an “urgent conversation” with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United States, Adela Raz.

"With that said, it is not too late to prevent the Taliban from overrunning Kabul," McConnell said in a statement. "The Administration should move quickly to hammer Taliban advances with airstrikes, provide critical support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) defending the capital, and prevent the seemingly imminent fall of the city." The Pentagon dispatched troops to evacuate some staffers from the U.S. embassy in Kabul as Taliban insurgents made a stunning advance toward the capital. The Taliban now controls half of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and more than two-thirds of the country’s territory.