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Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is expected to face intense discussion over the chaotic withdrawal of the Biden administration from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country and on the failures of politics and intelligence leading to the tumultuous conclusion of America’s longest war.
Blinken’s virtual appearance before the House panel is his first congressional hearing this week on the matter. On Tuesday, he will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In his opening statement to lawmakers, Blinken defends the timing of the pullout and blames the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country on the Afghan government and the collapse of the country’s national security forces.
“There is no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government more resilient or more self-reliant. If 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in assistance, equipment and training weren’t enough, why another year, or five or ten, would make a difference? Blinken will tell lawmakers, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Hill.
Monday’s hearing is expected to provide plenty of fireworks as some Republicans – who have already called on President Biden, Blinken and other members of the administration to step down – pressure the country’s top diplomat over the matter Afghan security forces’ rapid collapse and madness scramble to evacuate the Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul.
Blinken is the first administration official to testify before Congress on the random withdrawal.
He will also blame former President Donald Trump for delaying the approval process for special immigrant visas for Afghan allies and blame Americans in Afghanistan for failing to heed administration warnings to leave the country. .
“In March, we started urging them to leave the country. In total, between March and August, we sent 19 specific messages with this warning – and with offers of help, including financial aid to pay for plane tickets, ”Blinken will tell lawmakers.
“Despite this effort, when the evacuation began, there were still thousands of Americans in Afghanistan, almost all of them evacuated on August 31. Many had dual citizenship and had lived in Afghanistan for years, decades, generations. Deciding whether or not to leave the place they know as their home is a heartbreaking decision. “
He will also accuse the Trump administration of slowing down the SIV process.
“There had not been a single interview with an SIV candidate in Kabul in nine months, dating back to March 2020. The program was essentially at an impasse,” Blinken will say. “Within two weeks of taking office, we relaunched the maintenance process for the SIV in Kabul. “
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republican on the House panel, sharply criticized the administration’s handling of the pullout and asked questions he has for Blinken on Sunday.
“I want to hear from him, why did it go so badly?” How did you get so hurt? Why has he not heeded the warnings from the intelligence community since April and May of last year telling us, telling me that the Taliban was going to gain the upper hand, that the Afghan army was going to fall and that the embassy in trouble ?, ”McCaul said on Fox News’s“ Sunday Morning Futures ”.
“I want to know why he left American citizens behind. Why did the military evacuate before the American citizens? Yes, I want to know why our interpreters who risked their lives and fought with our special forces, why were they left behind and… are executed as I speak in front of their families, ”he continued. .
Blinken will also be grilled over the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemen outside Hamid Karzai International Airport near Kabul after an ISIL-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb as crowds of Afghans were swarming the streets around the airport in a desperate attempt to get a flight out of the country.
And Republicans will surely seek accounts of the Taliban posing in videos with American military equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters and heavy equipment left behind at Kabul airport.
Democrats, meanwhile, will seek to blame the previous administration, raising questions about the peace plan and withdrawal schedule that Trump worked out with the Taliban in February 2020.
“My # 1 question for Secretary Blinken: Can you now describe to us the detailed and thoughtful plan prepared by the Trump administration for how we would exit Afghanistan in an orderly fashion? Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) Told Axios in an interview.
“Let’s face it, this mission was full of dangers, because there is no way to escape without causing a stampede, and there is no way to have an orderly and meritorious stampede,” he said. declared.
Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the pullout last month, telling NY1, “It could have been done better.”
But he appeared to soften his judgment on the administration’s efforts last week.
“Was it a perfect evacuation?” Absolutely not. But if you talk about it in its entirety and what the results were, you’ll have to say it was a successful operation, ”Meeks said in an interview last Friday, The Washington Post reported.
He said Blinken would face “difficult questions,” including the US military’s decision to leave Bagram Air Base in July and the number of Americans and Afghans still in the country.
But Meeks stressed the narrow reach of his panel.
“It’s an oversight,” he said. “These are our oversight responsibilities. We are not investigating, we are monitoring.
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