A former U.S. lawmaker has invoked the U.S. departure from Afghanistan in calling for Washington to help Kyiv's fight against Vladimir Putin by giving Ukraine long-range weapons and using frozen Russian funds to help the war-torn country.
The Biden administration was heavily criticized for its handling of the drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021, which was followed by the Taliban returning to power in the country.
"The U.S. cannot get a reputation, which sort of got after we left Afghanistan, that it walks away from pledges that it makes—this would be very bad," Jane Harman, chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, told Bloomberg.
"It is essential that we provide the funds. We have pledged the aid; we need to follow through," Harman said. "Europe is hesitating because we are hesitating." Newsweek emailed the White House on Saturday for comment.
President Joe Biden's call for $61 billion for Kyiv, tied to a $110 billion supplemental funding request, has been stuck in Congress after Senate Republicans blocked it mostly because it did not contain border-security measures.
A deal is expected to be unveiled next week, but this has been described as "dead on arrival" by House Speaker Mike Johnson amid the continuing wrangle over funds.
Harman was a Democratic congresswoman for California's 36th district until 2011 and chaired the Homeland Security Committee's Intelligence Subcommittee. She told Bloomberg that the U.S. should tap into Russian funds frozen by sanctions.
"I think there can be a good outcome here. Congress needs to step up and the Biden administration needs to use these frozen funds right now," Harman said.
Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was followed by sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow from the global financial system. These included freezing around $300 billion worth of Moscow's assets.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has backed the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, which, if passed and signed into law, would give Biden the right to seize frozen Russian assets.
Funds seized by the U.S. under the law would be transferred to an account that can pay for the restoration of Ukraine but not be used for military expenses.
However, at least two-thirds of frozen assets are held in Europe and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported on Saturday that there was unlikely to be a mass confiscation of Russian assets. However, "Washington will keep pressing its allies to be bolder," The Bell added.
Harman also said that Ukraine should be given "long-range weapons that they can shoot into Crimea" to take out Russian installations.
"This could be easy to do; lots of that long-range fire is in Europe," she added. "Somewhere in Europe, there are long-range fires that could actually be targeted at the Kerch Bridge," referring to the link between the annexed peninsula and Russia.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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