On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said he would support an investigation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan that House Republicans have pledged to hold and it’s important to do so “because so many Americans have forgotten about the fact that we did leave a lot of Afghans behind.” Moulton also argued that the investigation should be of the whole war, and there is responsibility to go around among all four presidents who presided over the war.
Co-host Jim Sciutto asked, “One of the GOP majority’s pledges is to investigate the Afghanistan withdrawal, and I wonder, would you support such an investigation?”
Moulton responded, “I would, but I would support an investigation of the entirety of the Afghan War. This didn’t all just go to hell in a handbasket with the withdrawal. There were mistakes that were made by multiple presidents, Democratic and Republican, over the course of 20 years. And if we want to prevent those mistakes from happening again, ultimately do the work, the oversight of Congress so that more American troops don’t needlessly lose their lives, then we will examine the entire conflict. And I’ll tell you, Jim, one of the reasons that it’s important to do this now is because so many Americans have forgotten about the fact that we did leave a lot of Afghans behind. And so, my advocacy for the Afghans who served along our — alongside us and are now being hunted down by the Taliban, that hasn’t ended. That continues until we bring them all out of danger.”
He added, “I hold this President responsible for the mistakes that occurred under his watch. So Joe Biden is responsible for the withdrawal. But Donald Trump, President Trump, is responsible for the decision to negotiate with the Taliban, basically give everything away, and pave the groundwork for this precipitous withdrawal that Biden followed through on. I hold President Obama responsible for the decision to surge troops into Afghanistan and we should have a full accounting of whether or not that worked and whether it was worth the cost. And, of course, I hold President Bush responsible for, not only going into Afghanistan in the first place, which I think most people agree was the right thing to do, but ultimately deciding to escalate the war and stay there for what turned into a 20-year conflict. So, there’s a lot of accountability to be had here, but it’s our job to do that in Congress. There will be a lot of Republicans and Democrats who don’t want to examine this issue that say it’s consigned to the past, they don’t want to get their president or their party in trouble. As a United States Marine veteran, we absolutely should have accountability and I will be pursuing that with whoever’s willing to have that discussion in Congress next year.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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