This week marks a year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrew

“Afghanistan was already struggling with education even before the Taliban takeover last August, as more than four million children were already out of school, 60 per cent of them girls,” said an article from UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Forbidding girls from attending secondary school also has a monetary cost, according to a new analysis by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The analysis shows that the country loses 2.5 per cent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because of the decision.

“Soaring food and fuel prices – worsened by a drought and the war in Ukraine – mean that roughly 95 per cent of the population, and nearly all female-headed households, do not get enough to eat,” UN Women continued.

Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker said that one year ago, “Kabul fell to the Taliban and President Biden presided over a botched evacuation that left thousands of our allies behind. It was a crisis that was entirely preventable.”

One year ago, Kabul fell to the Taliban and President Biden presided over a botched evacuation that left thousands of our allies behind. It was a crisis that was entirely preventable.

Great piece by @SASCGOP Ranking Member @JimInhofe. https://t.co/tUhRJPCglE

— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) August 15, 2022

Both Mississippi Senators joined over twenty of their colleagues last year in demanding answers from the President regarding how the United States left Afghanistan.

“The signatories of this letter may have differing opinions about whether the United States should have maintained a military presence in Afghanistan, but we all agree that the arbitrary and poorly-planned method by which you withdrew from Afghanistan caused this crisis,” the Senators wrote.

“We request thorough, unclassified answers to these questions that can be made available to the general public.  Americans need to see that the United States will not abandon them to terrorists abroad forever,” the Senators said.

Last year, Representatives Michael Guest (MS-03), Steven Palazzo (MS-04), and Trent Kelly (MS-01) also sent a letter to President Biden expressing their disapproval of his decision not to extend the Afghanistan withdrawal deadline and encouraging his Administration to extend the deployment of U.S. resources and military forces until all Americans and American allies have been evacuated or deemed safe.

“We urge your Administration to ensure that adequate resources remain in Afghanistan until our citizens and allies are safe and this mission is complete,” the lawmakers wrote.