Foreign Affairs

Bacon Has Long Warned of a Flawed Afghanistan Withdrawal

| Posted in Press Releases

Bacon Has Long Warned of a Flawed Afghanistan Withdrawal Points to Poor Execution by Biden and Disregard of Bi-Partisan Concerns in Congress Omaha, Neb. – Since 2019, Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02) and other members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) have expressed concerns regarding a quick withdraw from Afghanistan and negotiations with the Taliban, especially since the Afghanistan…

KETV: 'I don't want to let anyone down': Nebraskans work to help Americans, refugees escape Afghanistan

| Posted in In the News

Desperate pleas for help come into Nebraska directly from Afghanistan. "Almost everybody is saying, 'We are hiding in our basements, trying to stay safe. The Taliban are everywhere. It's not safe to go outside. Please help us,'" said Ben 'Felix' Ungerman, deputy chief of staff for Republican Congressman Don Bacon. "We are getting overwhelmed with requests for assistance and help,"…

Four Capitol Hill veterans split on U.S. pullout

| Posted in In the News

Although Congress is currently in recess, lawmakers have taken to the airwaves and social media in recent days to offer support, recriminations and other commentaries on the U.S.’s departure from Afghanistan after 20 years and the Taliban’s rapid conquest of the country. In interviews with Jewish Insider on Monday, four House of the 74 total House veterans — including two…

Retired UNO dean and Afghanistan expert calls pullout from Afghanistan “tragic” and “embarrassing”

| Posted in In the News

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Tom Gouttierre is the retired Dean of International Studies and Programs and the retired Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He first arrived in Afghanistan in 1965 as a Peace Corps volunteer. He taught high school and eventually coached the country’s national basketball team. Among his students was President Ashfar…

House Armed Services GOP demand Biden plan to prevent terror groups from using Afghanistan as 'safe haven'

| Posted in In the News

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee demanded President Biden provide Congress with a plan to prevent terror groups from using Afghanistan as a "safe haven" after the Taliban takeover, while criticizing his response to the worsening security and humanitarian situation unfolding.  The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, along with his GOP colleagues…

‘Cut the bureaucratic b.s.’: Inundated lawmakers call for speeding up Afghanistan evacuations

| Posted in In the News

Dozens of members of Congress are joining the scramble to evacuate people trapped in Afghanistan, urging President Joe Biden's administration to expedite the relocations as efforts to flee grow more dire — and deadly — by the hour. Multiple Democrats and Republicans say distressed calls to help evacuate U.S. residents, Afghan interpreters and other asylum-seekers have flooded their…

Bacon Issues Statement on the President’s Address

| Posted in Press Releases

Omaha, Neb. – Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02), a nearly 30-year veteran and retired brigadier general who was deployed four times to the Middle East, issued the following statement on Pres. Biden’s address concerning Afghanistan: “We have to address what the president didn’t say.   “Number one, President Biden didn’t take responsibility for the disaster that is happening…

Rep. Bacon to Newsmax: Biden's Plans to Remove Afghan Interpreters Too Late

| Posted in In the News

President Joe Biden is two to three months too late into developing a plan for removing interpreters from Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. pullout of troops from the country, leaving them and others who worked to support the United States and coalition forces in danger of death at the hands of the Taliban, Rep. Don Bacon told Newsmax Saturday.  "We're just starting to get the…

Nebraska congressional delegation deplores Afghan tragedy

| Posted in In the News

ASHLAND — As Taliban forces continued to race across Afghanistan on their way to Kabul, members of Nebraska's all-Republican congressional delegation expressed outrage Thursday at the swift withdrawal of U.S. troops ordered by President Joe Biden. The drama unfolding in Afghanistan half a world away briefly threw the 2021 federal legislative summit hosted by the Lincoln…