Republicans have long been critical of President Biden's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A December Tweet by Republican Congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden blames President Biden for when he "abandoned 1000's of our fellow American citizens" during last summer's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan - America's longest war.
"His claim is that actions by President Joe Biden left between 10,000 and 15,000 American citizens abandoned to terrorists in Afghanistan," said Greg Borowski with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "This fact check hinges on a word and on the numbers."
PolitiFact Wisconsin said - Van Orden, a retired Navy Seal, is generally correct on the numbers. The State Department's initial number was in the thousands but it doesn't mean they were all abandoned.
"His claim assumes every American left in Afghanistan at the time of the evacuation, wanted to leave, said Borowski. But the State Department says that is simply not the case."
PolitiFact Wisconsin says after the withdrawal deadline, the number of Americans who wanted to be evacuated was much lower.
"The State Department says it does track how many Americans wanted to leave that country at a given time. They said there were about 100 left at the time of the withdrawal, and since then, they've helped about 1,000 more people leave Afghanistan," said Borowski.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated this claim Mostly False - meaning it contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts.
