Afghanistan withdrawal report not the end for congressional probe, GOP says

WASHINGTON (CN) — A hefty report detailing the circumstances surrounding the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan won’t close the book on House Republicans’ investigation, the probe’s top lawmaker said Monday.

Following months of hearings and several subpoenas, the GOP-led House Foreign Affairs Committee this week released its findings on the Afghanistan exit. The 300-page document, entitled “Willful Blindness,” accuses the Joe Biden administration of among other things improperly preparing for the withdrawal and prioritizing “optics” over the security of U.S. personnel.

The report, the result of more than a dozen interviews and a review of 20,000 pages of documents, also directly ties the White House’s approach to the Afghanistan withdrawal to the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The attack, carried out by an Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan, killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and injured hundreds of Afghan civilians.

“This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions,” said Texas Representative Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, during a news conference Monday evening.

“Some say Saigon was the worst,” he added, alluding to the 1975 U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. “I say this was.”

McCaul, flanked by Republican lawmakers and the Gold Star families of the servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate, slammed the Biden administration for what he said was a failure to initiate a military evacuation of Afghanistan until the Taliban were encroaching on Kabul. He also took aim at former Afghanistan Ambassador Ross Wilson, who he branded a “coward” and accused of leaving personnel, classified documents and millions of dollars of military hardware behind as he fled the country.

And lawmakers were clear that, while the committee’s report is now live, they would continue trying to hold the White House’s feet to the fire.

“More hearings and more paperwork do not bring accountability for those responsible for the death of 13 great heroes,” said Florida Representative Cory Mills, who joined McCaul at Monday’s news conference. He accused the Biden administration of putting “politics over strategy” in its move to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Mills also made a point to pull Vice President Kamala Harris in on his criticism — many Republicans have angled to frame her as the mastermind of the Afghanistan exit, repeating the contention that she was the “last person in the room” during the operation.

“Until we get accountability, and until Harris and the Biden administration … will take responsibility for their actions, then we haven’t done enough,” the Florida Republican said.

The committee report did not provide any evidence to suggest that the vice president and current Democratic presidential nominee played any pivotal role in the Afghanistan withdrawal.

McCaul, meanwhile, was adamant that his probe is not political, telling reporters that the investigation would continue even after the election “not in a partisan way, but because the American people deserve the truth.”

Despite that, the Texas Republican did not waste an opportunity to jab Democrats for not opening their own probe into the withdrawal while they held the House majority, and took a shot at Biden for not adequately acknowledging the Gold Star families on the anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing.

The White House, for its part, adopted an incredulous posture towards the House’s Afghanistan report, with national security communications adviser John Kirby telling reporters during a news conference that the document contained little new information. He branded the effort as “one-sided” and “partisan.”

Kirby doubled down on the White House’s longstanding contention that the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan began with former President Donald Trump, who negotiated a deal with the Taliban in 2020 which would have seen U.S. forces largely pulled out of the country by early 2021 and precipitated the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners.

“President Biden, for his part, faced a stark choice when he came to office,” Kirby said. “Abide by the flawed agreement and end America’s longest war, or blow up the deal, extend the war, and see a much smaller contingent of American troops back in combat with the Taliban. He chose the former.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken as its Afghanistan probe continues apace. Lawmakers demanded that Blinken testify before the panel on Sept. 19, or face contempt of Congress.

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