Liberals inside and outside Congress condemned Rep. Lauren Boebert after the Colorado Republican said on social media Monday that the “Taliban are the only people building back better”.
Ms. Boebert, a frequent detractor of President Biden, whose presidential campaign vowed to “Build Back Better,” made the crack on Twitter shortly after the Taliban abruptly reclaimed control of Afghanistan.
House Democrats including Reps. Steven Woodrow of Colorado and Eric Swalwell of California were among prominent Twitter users who slammed the first-year Republican congresswoman for the comment afterward.
“Boebert and the Taliban share a lot in common: they both bash gays, love guns, want religious rule and are proudly anti-American and anti-vax,” said Mr. Woodrow, who represents Colorado’s Sixth District.
“You tried to overthrow the US government so of course you support the overthrow of the Afghan government,” Mr. Swalwell said about Ms. Boebert, who voted against certifying Mr. Biden’s electoral victory.
Travis Akers, a Navy veteran with a large following on the social media service, called Ms. Boebert’s remark “the most disgusting and disturbing thing I have ever seen from a sitting member of Congress.”
“Siding with the Taliban over the United States must be condemned immediately” by the Republican Party and its leadership, Mr. Akers said about Ms. Boebert.
Fred Wellman, the executive director of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC, and Keith Olbermann, a former CNN and ESPN host, similarly accused Ms. Boebert of treason from their Twitter accounts.
“The Taliban murdered over 2,448 US military members and you just spit on their graves you sick, twisted, malignant, rotten woman,” said Mr. Wellman, an Army veteran who served combat tours in Iraq.
“This traitor @laurenboebert must not only be expelled from Congress, she must be expelled from our country,” Mr. Olbermann said in a Twitter posting tagging the congresswoman’s account.
Ms. Boebert’s office did not immediately respond to a message inquiring about the congresswoman’s reaction to the criticism.
Afghanistan fall to the Taliban in recent days after the hardline Islamist group seized Kabul, its capital city, on the heels of U.S. forces leaving the country following nearly two decades of occupation.
Ms. Boebert again mocked the president’s campaign slogan in another tweet Tuesday, saying: “Joe Biden did a better job building back the Taliban than he did the middle-class who got $0.16 cheaper hotdogs.”
Taliban militants had previously controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, during which time the regime gained international condemnation for subjecting residents to repressive, brutally enforced rules.
American forces invaded Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, wheich were planned by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan under Taliban protection. Former President Trump planned for the U.S. to withdraw in 2021, and his Democratic successor recently followed suit.
Ms. Boebert, a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump, a fellow Republican whom Mr. Biden defeated in the 2020 election, had pushed for the U.S. to pull out its troops from Afghanistan before the recent withdrawal.
“We’ve been in Afghanistan for more than half my life. We need to end the endless wars,” Ms. Boebert, 34, tweeted in February, less than a month after being sworn in to represent Colorado’s Third District.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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