The Home Overseas Affairs Committee is seeking to grill 9 key State Division officers about President Biden’s “chaotic and lethal” Afghanistan withdrawal.
The request from committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, comes two years after the U.S. navy ended its 20-year presence in Afghanistan as its capital, Kabul, fell to Taliban fighters in a lightening-fast offensive.
McCaul wrote in a press release that the 9 officers “have vital info that’s vital to uncovering how and why the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in a disgraceful give up to the Taliban, the loss of life of 13 U.S. servicemembers (sic) and injuring 45 extra — all which might have been prevented.”
“This was an unmitigated catastrophe of epic proportions,” he continued. “… The committee will proceed to interview extra present and former administration officers concerned within the planning and execution of the withdrawal.”
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The U.S. is trying again two years after the navy withdrew from Afghanistan after twenty years. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP through Getty Photographs / File)
The individuals summoned embrace Ross Wilson, former U.S. performing ambassador to Afghanistan, Suzy George, the chief of employees to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. particular consultant for Afghanistan Reconciliation, amongst others.
McCaul requested them to rearrange a date and time for transcribed interviews with the committee by Sept. 7, simply days earlier than Home lawmakers return from their six-week August recess.
Fox Information Digital reached out to the State Division for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.
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Home Overseas Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul has been investigating the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Photographs / File)
On Tuesday, McCaul led a committee roundtable with the family members of the 13 U.S. service members killed exterior then-Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul throughout the withdrawal’s ultimate days. The Pentagon concluded final yr {that a} suicide bomber was answerable for the blast that killed 11 Marines, a member of the Military and a Navy sailor.
He instructed them the committee was to take a seat down immediately with Ambassador Dan Smith, who was tapped to steer the State Division’s assessment of the withdrawal in late 2021.
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Grieving kin took turns sharing how the lack of their liked one has affected them and their households, with many accusing the Biden administration of mismanaging the operation and later trying “to lie and canopy up their failures,” in keeping with the mom of 1 Marine.
“All I can do is give you my promise,” McCaul instructed them. “I cannot relent on this investigation. I’ll battle with each fiber [of] my being and go away no stone unturned till now we have the total fact as to how the hell this occurred.”
Gold Star households spoke at a Home Overseas Affairs Committee roundtable on Tuesday. (Screenshot)
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The Pentagon responded to the roundtable in a press release on Tuesday, expressing “deepest condolences” and gratitude for the service members who gave their lives but in addition defending U.S. officers’ actions that day.
“U.S. navy commanders on the bottom in Afghanistan made one of the best selections and offered their greatest navy recommendation based mostly off what was recognized on the time and leaders took acceptable motion in response to reported risk streams,” a Pentagon spokesperson mentioned. “From the investigation on the tactical degree, the Abbey Gate assault was not preventable with out degrading the mission to maximise the variety of evacuees, and the leaders on the bottom adopted the correct measures and procedures.”
