Sen. Marco Rubio Wednesday warned that the Taliban cannot be trusted, and that its leaders will retake Afghanistan and impose Sharia law as soon as U.S. troops are pulled out, so some must remain "forever" to keep the Taliban at bay.
“The bottom line is that the Taliban will institute a severe version of Sharia law and no elections," the Florida Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom," while reacting to the United States' airstrike on Taliban forces, coming less than a week after a peace deal was signed.
"That’s what they want, they have the battlefield advantage over the government of Afghanistan," he added. "No, I don't think we can trust them."
On Wednesday, an airstrike was conducted against four Taliban fighters, U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett confirmed, saying they were actively attacking an Afghan National Defense and Security Force (ANDSF) checkpoint.
Rubio said he hopes the deal with the Taliban works out but he thinks that the "likeliest outcome" will be that once the United States leaves, the Taliban will take over.
The only way to keep the Taliban under control, he added, would be for the United States to keep troops in Afghanistan "forever."
"The hope is there would be an Afghan government to assume control and be an alternative and push out the Taliban," said Rubio. "That's an effort that has been going on for over a decade and hasn't seemed to work that way. Right now, as they try to negotiate, the Afghan government is divided. Two people claim to be president. They can't even figure that out. They've consistently lost territory to the Taliban. We would have to be there forever to prevent the Taliban from taking over the country at this point. I hope something different turns out to be true but we can't be there forever, either."
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