Colorado’s political leaders react to Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
As Taliban forces stormed through Afghanistan, capturing all major cities in the wake of the U.S. troop withdrawal from the country, Colorado’s political leaders have taken to social media to react.
The state’s Republican congressional delegation was vociferous in its criticism of President Joe Biden, who is following through on a deal announced last year by former President Donald Trump and the Taliban to pull American forces out of the country.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, was the most vocal of the trio on Twitter, blasting Biden for “weak leadership.”
“Let this sink in: The American people have heard more from the Taliban than we have from the President,” Buck said in a Monday afternoon tweet.
The Windsor Republican also announced his office set up an email account to field requests for help from Americans trapped in Afghanistan.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, also directed criticism at Biden for a lack of public presence.
“Over the weekend, while the Taliban completed its take over of Afghanistan, Joe Biden hid from the media at Camp David,” he tweeted on Monday. “This is worse than Saigon and the most humiliating and disastrous event in a career of foreign policy fiascos by Joe Biden.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Lauren Boebert was active with tweets criticizing Biden from both her personal and official accounts.
“Joe has a 48 year history of making bad decisions,” the Silt Republican tweeted. “Add this weekend’s foreign policy decisions to the list.”
That drew a rebuke from Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. Crow noted Boebert was one of 16 members who voted against a bill he was carrying “to expand and speed up the visa program to evacuate and save our Afghan partners.”
Crow also weighed in on the situation, albeit in a much more somber tone.
“My heart has broken. Like most vets, I left part of me in AFG,” he tweeted on Sunday. Later we’ll debate the failures of last 20 yrs, but today our mission is clear: hold the airport as long as possible and get ALL U.S. citizens and as many Afghan partners out as we can. We will debate the rest later.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Denver, added a thread labeling the situation “heartbreaking.”
Democratic state lawmaker and fellow Army veteran David Ortiz echoed elements of Crow’s sentiment in a Twitter thread. But the Littleton Democrat, who also served in Afghanistan, was far more vocal in his criticism, labeling the Taliban’s “complete takeover” as “#Bidensblunder.”
Ortiz also engaged fellow Democratic state Rep. Steven Woodrow as the Denver Democrat tweeted anti-war messages over the weekend.

