U.S. Senator Mark Kelly: Priority is evacuating people from Afghanistan

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Twelve American service members were killed in a pair of suicide attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. We spoke with U.S. Senator Mark Kelly about the situation in Afghanistan and other issues.

“The service members made the ultimate sacrifice protecting the airport in Kabul and protecting the evacuation of American citizens,” Kelly said. The terrorists’ who brought this attack on civilians and our troops need to be brought to justice, he added.

The White House has committed to an Aug. 31st deadline for a withdraw of American troops. Kelly said the top priority should be the mission to evacuate people out of Afghanistan. “Mission success is the most important me,” he said. “We are not going to leave Americans behind. That is not an option here.” The U.S. relationship with the Taliban has not been clear, Kelly said. “Moving forward, we need to make decisions that are in our best interest of national security, Americans in Afghanistan, and our country.”

With the infrastructure plan, Kelly mentioned driving on disrepair roads in Arizona. “We get to fix the failing infrastructure,” he said. There are bridges that are failing and water that is not adequate, he added. When mentioning driving from Phoenix to Tucson, Kelly said that Interstate-10 needs to be widened and has no access roads. “This infrastructure bill could do that. It could also build a highway called “Interstate-11″ from Nogales, Ariz. to Tucson and Phoenix,” Kelly said. The infrastructure bill will also expand high-speed internet access across the state. “This is a bi-partisan infrastructure bill.”

When mentioning voting rights, Kelly said he is the co-sponsor of “For The People Act.” “I think it’s incredibly important. It gets rid of corruption and dark money out of our political system, and it strengthens voting rights across the country,” he added. “We will continue to work to get this passed through the United States Senate.”

Senator Mark Kelly, (D) Arizona

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