The GOP chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the Biden administration repeatedly picked “optics over security” and failed to plan for all contingencies before and during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan following the collapse of the US-backed government in August 2021.
On Monday, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and the panel’s majority Republicans released “Willful Blindness,” the result of a three-year investigation into the hurried evacuation as Taliban fighters were toppling the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.
“As a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to plan for all contingencies, the U.S. government conducted an emergency evacuation without the necessary personnel, supplies and equipment,” Mr. McCaul said in a statement. “The administration’s dereliction of duty placed U.S. servicemembers and U.S. State Department personnel in mortal danger, where the Taliban — our sworn enemy — became the first line of defense.”
The report, the latest salvo in a long partisan battle in Washington over the failures of the 20-year U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, points the finger of blame at the Biden administration for the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans in the Abbey Gate terrorist attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in the chaotic final days of the withdrawal in August 2021.
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan damaged U.S. credibility, emboldened adversaries, and made the U.S. more at risk of an attack from Afghanistan, Mr. McCaul said.
The Biden administration’s” unconditional surrender and the abandonment of our Afghan allies, who fought alongside the U.S. military against the Taliban … is a stain on this administration,” he said.
House Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee, in their own report, accused the Republicans of using the taxpayer-funded report to politicize the Afghan evacuation.
“The American people deserve the truth. We owe it to them to highlight the facts elicited in this investigation without undue spin and with respect for the seriousness of the subject,” Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the senior Democrat on the committee, said in a statement after the GOP-led report was released. “If the information we receive is hidden, twisted, or used as a political cudgel, it will undermine the committee’s ability to undertake credible oversight going forward.”
Mr. McCaul accused congressional Democrats of focusing on providing political cover for the White House rather than seeking answers to questions about the evacuation from Afghanistan.
“They held only a single hearing, did not conduct one transcribed interview, or publicly request a single document,” he said. “Since becoming chairman in January 2023, I have aggressively pushed to get the necessary documents and testimony from the Biden-Harris administration, and they have obstructed my every attempt.”
The State Department in its own response to the 350-page report, accused Republicans of using “cherry-picked facts” to score political points.
“There are valid and important criticisms of the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan and how it concluded, which is why the department has remained focused on evolving and growing from this moment, learning important lessons and making sustainable changes to crisis operations,” the State Department statement said.
“The department stands ready to work alongside any Member who expresses serious interest in finding legislative and administrative solutions,” the statement added. “However, we will not stand by silently as the department and its workforce are used to further partisan agendas.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.