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Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee announced the results of their investigation on Sunday into the misfortune of the Biden administration Evacuation from Afghanistan a year ago, an obvious one Blueprint for a deeper investigation of the President and his top advisers should the GOP win majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections in November.
A draft of their report, provided to the Washington Post, includes new details about the number of Americans left behind when the last military transport left Kabul International Airport and the lack of State Department officials on hand to treat the tens of thousands of Afghans trying to get ahead to flee the Taliban takeover. But overall, there are few big revelations.
A Republican adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity according to ground rules established by the committee, said so was because the State Department refused to release documents or agree to interviews, so investigators had to rely on public records and materials provided by whistleblowers. A spokesman for the agency said in response that officials have briefed Congress more than 150 times since the pullout and continue to update lawmakers on Afghan resettlement and resettlement efforts.
When the report will be published was still unclear on Sunday evening.
Biden blames others for Afghanistan’s rapid collapse and defends his decision to withdraw troops
The evacuation of unprecedented proportions was carried out in the last two weeks of August 2021. after the Taliban invaded Kabul the capital, forcing the immediate collapse of the US-backed government. More than 120,000 people were flown out of the country, but the mission was marred by a suicide bombing that killed an estimated 200 Afghans and 13 American soldiers, and then a botched US drone strike that killed 10 civilians.
President Biden and his national security team have faced scathing criticism for ordering a full disengagement despite recommendations from the Pentagon that the military maintain a modest presence in Afghanistan to support local forces. Critics have also accused his government of the disorder before and during the evacuation, which for many has thwarted their attempts to escape.
“There was a complete lack and a failure of planning,” Rep. Michael McCaul (Tex.), top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CBS News’ Face the Nation. “There was no plan and no plan was carried out.”
In a statement, the White House refuted the findings of the investigation, calling the document a “partisan report” “riddled with inaccurate characterizations, cherry-picking information and false claims.”
“When President Biden took office, he faced a choice: start the war and put more American troops at risk, or end the longest war in the United States after two decades of American presidents sending US troops to fight and die to end Afghanistan,” Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, wrote in response to the report.
Over the past year, Biden has repeated defended his decision to order the withdrawal of US troops, calling the war unwinnable while accusing the Trump administration of brokering what he criticized as unfavorable accords that set the terms for a US exit.
Families of US troops killed in Kabul airport bombing question whether the Pentagon skewed the test results
The administration has been wary of GOP attempts to lay the groundwork for a season of impeachment probes that many congressional observers believe Republicans should take over the House of Representatives — a prospect within reach given Democrats have a slim majority to have.
Several Republican lawmakers have filed proposed indictments against Biden on topics ranging from the withdrawal from Afghanistan to the alleged “corruption” of his son, Hunter Biden. Such moves are widely viewed as an attempt to subject Biden to the same investigative scrutiny that Democrats applied to his predecessor, the president Donald Trump, impeached twice by the House of Representatives but never convicted by the Senate.
Two weeks of chaos: A timeline of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan
The partially damning report was prepared by McCaul’s associates. He has not joined those in the GOP calling for Biden to face Congress’ ultimate oversight tool. but his team has not ruled out such a result.
“The decision to withdraw US forces was made by President Biden, despite advice from his military commanders that such a move could result in gains on the Taliban battlefields,” the report said, adding at various points that this decision cost the lives of Americans and Afghans in great danger.
“President Biden continues to mischaracterize the advice received,” it said. “President Biden continued to lie about this even months after the withdrawal was complete.”
The report accuses Biden of being particularly callous to the fate of those affected.
“No one has embodied more than President Biden the indifference and lack of urgency regarding the dire situation facing SIV applicants,” the report said, using an acronym for special immigrant visas, a restricted visa category for certain Afghans who have helped the United States throughout The 20 Years War. Biden is said to have “broke his promise” to pull out American citizens.
Documents reveal US military frustration with White House diplomats
Administration officials strongly deny that the White House did not adequately prepare for the withdrawal of US forces.
The administration began conducting “tabletop exercises” on the potential impact of such a move in the spring of 2021, shortly after Biden’s inauguration. But White House officials said intelligence agencies underestimated how quickly Taliban militants would overwhelm Afghan forces and invade Kabul.
“We conducted extensive contingency planning and pre-deployed troops in the region during the spring and summer of 2021, enabling us to facilitate the evacuation of more than 120,000 people — including more than 70,000 Afghans who we welcome to communities across our country have been called. ‘ Watson said.
Administration officials have tried to justify mistakes during the evacuation, citing the chaos in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport. That The report shows how dire the scene was — and how unprepared Biden’s team proved, its authors claim.
This is what the study showed, for example During the height of the evacuation, only 36 US consular officers were at the airport. The lack of staff, the authors found, led to enormous administrative backlogs at the Tens of thousands of people who owned the proper documentation to get to the United States, but were ultimately left behind.
The investigation also found that 1,450 Afghan children were evacuated without parents or legal guardians.
Perhaps most problematic for Biden, the investigation found that “over 800” American citizens were left behind, a number many times higher than the 100 to 200 that government officials claimed were stranded when the withdrawal was announced August 31, 2021.
The US government has continued to facilitate evacuations and, as of late last month, 84 American citizens remained who were still trying to leave, a committee assistant said.
Thousands of Afghan families remain separated after chaotic US exit
The report’s authors also offer new details about the Afghan security forces left behind. About 3,000 entered Iran, it said, taking their equipment and vehicles with them. If any Recruited by the Iranians as an intelligence agent, the committee aide said, could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security given how closely some units work with U.S. troops.
“We believe this happened because they were not evacuated by the US or our allies and therefore had no other choice,” he said committee assistant said.
The report’s authors say in the report that their findings are incomplete and necessary a broader investigation outlining the approach the GOP would take if it secured a majority in the House of Representatives and the subpoena power that goes with it.
The report identified more than 40 people whom Republican lawmakers want to invite for interviews, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, if a deeper investigation is launched. in the meanwhile House Republican are expected to seek a vote next month to force the State Department to provide the committee’s minority with the missing documents and other materials they seek.