WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell on Tuesday linked the Biden administration’s highly controversial pullout from Afghanistan six months ago to Russia’s current menacing troop build-up around Ukraine.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that the Russians wouldn’t be on the border of Ukraine with 100,000 more troops had we not indicated to the rest of the world we were pulling the plug on Afghanistan and going home,” the Senate Republican leader said on Tuesday during a Capitol Hill news conference with reporters.
McConnell’s unstated implication is that the president’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from one longtime hotspot emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to test American power and resolve in another place.
