“If [the Taliban] aren’t the enemy who has been shooting at us all this time,” McCain said on Fox News, quoting from a tweet he said he got from a member of the military. “For the Vice President of the United States to make a statement like that is an insult to the men and women who are serving today. … But also, what about the families of those who have been killed by the IEDs that Taliban have manufactured, the same Taliban that sheltered Bin Laden and was responsible for 9/11. What about all that? It’s just disgraceful.”

Republican presidential candidate Romney also criticized Biden for the remark later on Fox News.

“I think it’s one of the most strange comments ever to be uttered by the lips of a vice president. And this vice president in particular has said some strange things,” he said. “We are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. They are killing American soldiers. To suggest they are not our enemy is extraordinary. And that kind of communication confuses our friends in Afghanistan, and our friends around the world. Where in the world is this vice president coming from?”