According to the Associated Press, Republicans have united in their criticism of President Joe Biden as the plan to remove US soldiers from Afghanistan developed into a deadly struggle, and the Taliban quickly regained power.

When President Donald Trump first revealed the idea, the GOP was split, with some supporting it and others opposing it. Those opposed to the pullout contended Monday that Biden should have foreseen the Taliban takeover, while supporters initially chastised him for doing a terrible job.

Representative Liz Cheney, whose father was vice president when the war in Afghanistan began and who is now one of Trump's most vehement detractors, has been roundly chastised by her party but has now found common ground with her colleagues.

The "calamity" in Afghanistan began "with the Trump administration negotiating with terrorists and pretending they were partners for peace," Cheney claimed in a tweet, and is now "ending with American surrender as Biden abandons the country to our terrorist enemies."

Senator Ted Cruz described the incident as "An embarrassing spectacle, a diplomatic humiliation, and a national security catastrophe,"

It was a rare moment of unity for a party split between an old guard that has long campaigned for US military expansion and Trump followers who put "America First." first. It was unclear how long Republicans would be able to cover up the schism as they sought Monday to convert the disarray into a political opportunity.

"If they're smart and say, 'Look, I wanted us out of Afghanistan, but not this way,'" says the author. Republicans may keep on the offensive, according to Glen Bolger, a veteran GOP pollster who has worked on multiple congressional races. "Not in a total surrender and not letting the Taliban just waltz in and take over everything, hurting women and taking the clock back to the 1400s.'"

The Taliban's entry into Kabul doesn't change the fact that Republicans have tried a foreign policy U-turn—the kind of about-face that will confuse any case they can make for blaming Biden without incurring political backlash.

The party has moved away from the hawkish days immediately following the September 11 terrorist attacks, when President George W. Bush led the invasion of Afghanistan and spent years promoting nation-building and aggressive military engagement abroad. "Now it's time for somebody else to do that work," Trump said last year when the Trump administration opted late in its term to remove the US military from Afghanistan this past May.

"You know it's been 19 years and even they are tired of fighting," Trump remarked, adding, "If bad things happen, we'll go back."

Many Republicans backed the accord, which included the Afghan government freeing 5,000 inmates, some of whom may have joined the recent Taliban attack. That support didn't wane even after Biden postponed the departure of the roughly 2,500 US troops still stationed in Afghanistan until September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Cruz was one of the people who applauded the decision. In April, he stated he was "glad" troops were returning home.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally of Trump, remarked on his podcast this week that "U.S. efforts at nation-building actually makes things worse, not better,"

When Biden returned to the White House from Camp David, he attempted to concentrate the argument on whether the United States still had a place in Afghanistan, rather than how it was leaving.

He remarked, "I'm now the fourth American president to preside over the war in Afghanistan," "I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth."

Meanwhile, when asked if dealing with the Taliban gave terrorists more legitimacy, he said no. "we never trusted the Taliban." said Mike Pompeo, Trump's former secretary of state and a key architect of the Afghanistan peace agreements, on Fox News Sunday.

Nonetheless, some of Pompeo's Republican colleagues believe Trump is to fault for the current situation.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, who served in the Air Force in Afghanistan, criticized both Trump's "Donald Trump's terrible deal he negotiated" and Biden's "terrible execution of a deal he never should have followed through on."

"How can they blame the other side when people are so enthralled by, or so concentrated on, something? How are they going to win this political tug-of-war? "Kinzinger said. "I think Donald Trump bears huge blame and Joe Biden will ultimately bear the ultimate blame."

Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters in Anchorage, Alaska, that she did not believe US forces would be or should stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. "what we have seen play out, I think, is troubling at such a degree and such a level." she added.

"I think there's going to be a lot of review about how we came to be at this place at this moment," Murkowski added.

Former President George W. Bush appeared to urge the Biden administration to use its "legal authority to cut the red tape" for migrants in a statement released late Monday. What is occurring in Afghanistan has severely grieved Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, according to Bush.

"Our hearts are heavy for both the Afghan people who have suffered so much and for the Americans and NATO allies who have sacrificed so much," Bush added.

However, Bush did not directly criticize Biden, who last month questioned the Western pullout from Afghanistan and expressed concern about the plight of Afghan women and girls. He expressed confidence in the evacuation efforts, saying they are being carried out by "will be effective because they are being carried out by the remarkable men and women of the United States Armed Forces, diplomatic corps, and intelligence community."

Other Republicans have been more ready to portray the current situation as a Biden issue. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, labeled the situation in Afghanistan an "unmitigated disaster" and said the Biden administration "looks to me like it couldn't organize a two-car funeral."

"Simply the fact that President Trump announced we were going to leave in May didn't mean President Biden had to do that," McConnell said of the withdrawal of US personnel.

For their prior backing of Biden's Afghanistan strategy, the National Republican Congressional Committee started online attacks on Democrats facing tough House reelection battles during next year's midterm elections.

Others have taken it even further. Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, grouped the developments in Afghanistan with the president's failure to handle increasing inflation or protect the US-Mexico border in a tweet, asking, "Has the time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?" Those measures have the potential to force Biden out of office.

"Democrats control the House, Senate & @WhiteHouse," Scott tweeted on Monday when he couldn't be reached for comment. "What in the world is Joe Biden doing?"

Kinzinger, on the other hand, believes that "both parties failed the American people."

"They were so eager to go out and make statements that get applause at rallies like 'bring all the troops home,'" Kinzinger said, "without the adequate reality that leaders have to lead and explain to the American people why the troops are there and why they're important." "Instead, we become preoccupied with the next election. As a result, we have this."