DIRE

Top Senators Travel to Afghanistan to Warn Trump Over Foreign Vacancies

John McCain, Elizabeth Warren and others urge Trump to fill crucial jobs.

Top U.S. senators were in Afghanistan over the Independence Day holiday, where they warned President Donald Trump against further delays in filling crucial embassy and State Department vacancies. “All of us realize that it’s more than just dropping bombs that will win in Afghanistan. Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson needs to come to Afghanistan quickly,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse added that he was concerned about the “hollowing out of the State Department.” Trump has yet to nominate an ambassador to Afghanistan, and is expected to soon send some 8,800 additional troops to the country. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and John McCain joined Graham and Whitehouse on the trip.