“We are going to see Al-Qaeda 3.0”

Representative Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) Criticized President Joe Biden’s defense of his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan and warned that al-Qaeda would make a resurgence in an interview Monday night on “The News with Shepard Smith ”from CNBC.

“I think at the end of the day you have two choices in Afghanistan, you have a small presence focused on counterterrorism and supporting the Afghan army, or you face what we are facing now. , which will be a cesspool of terrorism, ”said Waltz, who has served several times in Afghanistan as a Green Beret.

“The problem is, the terrorism that is happening in Afghanistan does not stay in Afghanistan. We will see Al Qaeda 3.0, they are working closely with the Taliban and they intend to attack America again. . ”

Since President Joe Biden’s decision in April to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before September 11, the Taliban have made amazing strides on the battlefield and seized the presidential palace in the Afghan capital Kabul over the weekend. . The Taliban now control the entire nation of 38 million people.

Retired Lieutenant General Douglas Lute served in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations with a focus on Afghanistan, and said that Al Qaeda’s terrorist networks had in fact been destroyed in ” The News with Shepard Smith “.

“It has been ten years since we brought bin Laden to justice and al-Qaeda, the root cause of our presence in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was decimated during our stay. over there, therefore, these vital people [U.S.] national interests have certainly been served, ”Lute said.

In a speech to the nation on Monday, Biden also said the United States had achieved its goal of “seriously degrading” Al Qaeda.

Waltz said America’s credibility has been “seriously damaged” as a result of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and that this will hamper the fight against terrorism.

“Around Afghanistan, not a single country, not a single one, has agreed to welcome American forces, so that we can stay above Al Qaeda,” Waltz said. “We are blind in the region, no one is going to trust us, and we have no basis to attack half of the world’s terrorist organizations that exist in this part of the world.”

Lute, however, said that currently it is “unimaginable” to imagine a world where the United States is forced to return to Afghanistan.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.