WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today blasted comments made by Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Lieutenant General James Mingus, Director for Operations for the J3 Joint Staff, that placed the blame for the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan on the Afghan defense forces.

Wicker pointed to remarks in Kahl’s opening statement that said the Afghan military “evaporated in the face of the Taliban assault” and in Mingus’s opening statement that said “we cannot and will never be able to instill the will to fight.”

The remarks largely echo talking points from President Joseph Biden that attempt to cast blame on the strength of Afghan security forces and deflect from the failure of U.S. leaders to plan for an orderly withdrawal from the country.

“Let me just remind everyone that for the past six or seven years before the debacle in Kabul, the Afghan military took almost all of the casualties and fatalities and fought bravely on behalf of their country,” Wicker said.

Wicker called the statements from Kahl and Mingus “unworthy” of their positions.

“In fact, it was a decision by this Administration to pull support for the Afghan National Defense Forces that led to the debacle,” Wicker said. “To suggest that this group of armed forces supported by the United States, but populated almost entirely by Afghan soldiers, was unwilling to fight or evaporated in the face of combat is a shameful and unworthy statement.”

When pressed by Wicker to confirm the truth of his comments, General Mingus walked back his characterization of the Afghan security forces.

“What I would offer based on my experiences is that I have fought alongside the Afghans and there is no issue with their will to fight,” Mingus said.