Top House Oversight Committee Republicans on Friday demanded all documents and communications from the Biden administration, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, regarding President Joe Biden’s deadly Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.
The Republicans are demanding the information after the Biden administration has “obstructed” congressional oversight, along with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR),” according to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY).
“The Biden Administration was tragically unprepared for the Afghanistan withdrawal and their decisions in the region directly resulted in a national security and humanitarian catastrophe,” Comer said in a statement. “U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, Americans were abandoned, taxpayer dollars are unaccounted for, the Taliban gained access to military equipment, progress for Afghan women was derailed, and the entire area is now under hostile Taliban control.”
“The American people deserve answers and the Biden Administration’s ongoing obstruction of this investigation is unacceptable,” he added.
FILE – House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., opens a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on the border, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington. Several Biden Cabinet members, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a letter Friday, Feb. 17, from House Republicans as they launched the second investigation into the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Comer sent a series of letters to senior leadership at the White House, Department of Defense, State Department and others requesting a tranche of documents related to the end of America’s longest war. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
The agency’s Comer seeks to collect information from are the senior leadership at the White House, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Department of State (State), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The letter to DOD Secretary Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Milley reads in part, “You were at the center of planning the withdrawal and evacuation and advised President Biden on decisions that amounted to tactical and strategic failures”:
The Afghan War Commission, established by the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, does not have to produce a report for three years after its first meeting. The Commission has not met once. The Commission has the option to extend its investigation for a year, potentially releasing findings after the Biden Administration has departed. This timeline unacceptable to address questions that are already past due.
Comer noted the Biden administration failed to respond to congressional oversight three times spanning two years. Despite 13 troops dying upon withdrawal, the then-Democrat-led House Oversight Committee never held a public hearing on the deadly withdrawal after “more than $2 trillion spent on the war and reconstruction efforts” in the nation.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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