The fact that it's not really known whether a taped statement from Ayman al- Zawahiri, an al-Qaida leader presumed to have died months ago is current and means he's still alive or if it was recorded in the past shows President Joe Biden's "complete incompetence" and a shocking lack of intelligence capability in the Middle East, Rep. James Comer said on Newsmax Monday.
"You would think that he would brag a little bit more about the takeover of Afghanistan, which he did not," the Kentucky Republican said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now. " "That we don't know shows a complete failure in our intelligence community. Let's just be clear, Joe Biden's incompetence has emboldened al-Qaida and the Taliban, and I'm afraid we're going to see more of these videos to come."
In the video, al-Zawahiri is said to display knowledge of events taking place since last November, when the rumors that he had died started circulating, notes the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors terrorist websites. SITE director Rita Katz said that in the video, titled "Jerusalem Will Not be Judaized," the terrorist leader mentioned the January 2021 raid of a Russian military base in Syria by Hurras al-Deen, a group aligned with al-Qaida, reports Fox News.
Meanwhile, the world has become a "much more dangerous place" in the eight months since Biden was inaugurated, said Comer.
"It's hard to imagine how anyone can screw up so many things in such a short period of time," he said. "We have a border that's not secure. We have adversaries that do not fear us in the least bit, especially when you consider how much they feared Donald Trump. They don't fear our military. They have zero fear of our intelligence community."
Meanwhile, American taxpayers deserve answers about how much military equipment was left behind for the Taliban, said Comer, noting that the special inspector general for Afghanistan is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee to testify "to the penny" how much equipment remains in Afghanistan.
"Republicans are trying to get the answers, and I think the pressure is mounting for the Democrats," said Comer. "The world changed since we left for the August break. Joe Biden's approval rating's gone down 15 points. He's messed the economy up, messed up our foreign policy up about as bad as you can mess up over the past six weeks, so I think the Democrats are going to come back to Washington and start to feel the pressure of the American people and start trying to demand that the Biden administration provide us with some answers."
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