MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Chris Murphy

Interview

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MADDOW: Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut speaking last week on the Senate floor in support of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Senator Murphy has supported President Biden`s decision to withdraw troops since April, since President Biden first announced our troops would leave.

Joining us live is Senator Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. He chairs the foreign relations subcommittee that deals with Afghanistan.

Senator, first, it`s nice to have you here. Thanks for your time.

MURPHY: Thanks for having me.

MADDOW: So the president tonight talked about the fact that he`s getting criticism and he accepts the criticism for the scenes of what is happening in Afghanistan. He also admitted that the speed at which the Taliban has consolidated control over Afghanistan is something that was a surprise even if that as an eventuality itself wasn`t.

What do you make of those two factors? And what do you make of the president`s remarks today?

MURPHY: Well, the president made a tough decision but the right decision. And frankly, a decision that was essentially forced on him by the Trump administration, which had drawn down our forces to 2,500. It was just not true that we were going to be able to stave off a Taliban offensive with those kinds of numbers. The president had two choices -- either complete the withdrawal or surge back to 8,000, 10,000 troops, something that frankly the American people were not going to support.

I find it incredible that people look at this decision and try to portray it as weakness. What would have been weak would be for the United States of America to continue to play patsy in Afghanistan, to continue to throw money at an Afghan government and Afghan military that wasn`t doing their part. It would be to advertise the United States was willing to be taken advantage of and spend trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives in the process.

This decision was a difficult decision but in the end it was the right one because it tells our future partners around the world that the United States will be in business with you but not forever if you aren`t willing to stand up and do your part. So, these scenes are heart breaking. They`re devastating.

But I just want to be honest with you as somebody who`s been to Afghanistan a number of times, listened to the intel analysts over and over, the Taliban was going to take back this country when the United States left, and the American people were never going to support the United States being there for another 20 or another 50 years.

MADDOW: The very practical consequence, though, of the speed with which the Taliban have consolidated control is the need to speed up the evacuation of everybody who we are trying to get out of that country.

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And now, we`ve heard a lot of speechifying and the right kinds of language from leaders of all stripes making sure we have done that, but obviously it needs to be faster and a more -- a larger effort than it has been. Having 6,000 troops on the ground at the airport may facilitate that for people who can get to the airport but there are a lot of questions as to how much of an evacuation effort we can mount.

What role does Congress have in pressuring the government and finding ways to make more evacuations happen?

MURPHY: So first of all, Congress actually authorized an emergency appropriation just about 30 days ago seeing this problem coming. I can`t say we saw the Taliban offensive moving this fast, but the administration actually does have additional resources with which to use to bring these evacuees from Afghanistan back home.

And as someone who has long supported American military withdrawal, I think the president has made the right decision, to temporarily surge forces there to bring them home.

Now, it probably does mean we have to have some dialogue with the Taliban as Richard Engel reported, right now, the Taliban seems to be at least standing aside as we seek to get some of our close allies out of the country. And in the short term, it is probably going to necessitate us having some conversation with the Taliban to make it clear to them that there will be consequences if they don`t continue to allow these evacuations to happen.

I think there will be some questions that need to be answered by the Biden administration and the Trump administration about whether we could have started these evacuations much earlier. But right now, I think Congress stands ready to give any additional resources beyond what we already have to make sure this happens quickly.

MADDOW: Senator Chris Murphy, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee that oversees Afghanistan policy, Democrat of Connecticut, leading light in the Democratic Party on foreign policy -- sir, thanks for your time. It is a difficult, difficult time I know.

MURPHY: Thank you.

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