OAN Staff James Meyers
1:25 PM – Tuesday, November 26, 2024
While facing the threat of a contempt of Congress vote, Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally agreed to testify in front of the 118th Congress’ House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), answering questions on the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, HFAC Chairman Michael McCaul announced on Tuesday.
“After months of good faith efforts that were too often met with stonewalling from the State Department, I’m proud to have secured Secretary Blinken’s appearance before my committee,” said McCaul (R-Texas). “I trust his testimony will provide some long-overdue accountability and transparency for the American people, our Afghan allies, and our Gold Star families.”
The hearing, which is scheduled for December 11th, will come three months after Blinken skipped a similar hearing before the committee, violating a congressional subpoena to appear “despite repeated warnings and accommodations,” according to the committee.
The Foreign Affairs panel then moved to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress for his refusal, which McCaul claimed on Tuesday forced the top U.S. diplomat to finally cooperate.
“It’s unfortunate the secretary agreed to appear only after my committee advanced contempt proceedings against him,” McCaul said.
“While I wish he had not delayed this crucial appearance until the end of his tenure as head of the State Department, I look forward to hearing his testimony and asking poignant questions to help House Republicans and the next administration ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Kabul ultimately fell to the Taliban on August 15th, 2021, just two weeks before the remaining U.S. troops left Afghanistan.
After the Afghan government’s complete collapse, President Joe Biden ordered a non-combatant evacuation mission that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and hundreds of Afghans in an August 26th, 2021, ISIS-K suicide bomb attack.
Meanwhile, the committee is now expected to demand answers from Blinken for additional information on the internal State Department warnings urging against Biden’s plan to entirely withdraw the U.S. from its 20-year war in Afghanistan.
This also comes after the House panel sought out certain information since its investigation, which began in 2022. Reportedly, 23 diplomats warned of the Taliban’s quick advance, ahead of the withdrawal.
After months of back-and-forth with the State Department, the committee finally received a version of the report to review in 2023.
In September, the committee then released its own report, which detailed the horrendous withdrawal. The report found that in part, Biden was so set on getting out of Afghanistan that he ignored any Pentagon or State Department advice before initiating it, ignoring the pleas of the Afghan government and disregarding other objections from U.S. allies.
“Despite President Biden’s public assertions to the contrary, our investigation has revealed the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the commander of US Central Command, the secretary of state, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-Afghanistan all advised against withdrawing all US troops from the country — both during and after the interagency review,” the 350-page report said.
Additionally, the report revealed that Biden administration officials repeatedly lied to the American public in order to hide the consequences that resulted from the president’s decision.
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