The Republicans claim they’ve requested many times with no response.
The botched departure of American soldiers from Afghanistan in August 2021 is the focus of a growing inquiry by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which has recently sent questions to leaders in the Biden administration about “tactical and strategic failures.”
Committee Chairman and Republican from Kentucky, James Comer, wrote letters on Friday demanding more information into the Afghanistan withdrawal “catastrophe” to the White House, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Leaders of the Senate wrote to President Joe Biden expressing “concern that the Biden administration continues to postpone long-deserved clarity to the American people” on the failed Afghanistan exit and evacuation plan.
The Republican Party has deemed it intolerable that three years have gone since the NDAA established the Afghan War Commission and the group has failed to have a single meeting, much alone deliver a report.
The Republican minority’s tactics from the previous Congress have carried over into these letters. There has been no “substantive answer,” as the Republicans called it, to the more than ten demands for papers and information sent by the Republicans to the Biden administration.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Comer said it is absurd that the Biden administration is still trying to stymie the probe.
He said that the Republican members of the Oversight Committee “are determined to giving answers, honesty, and accountability using the power of the gavel.” “Agencies within the government should be helpful and willing to share any pertinent data upon request. Nothing less than the United States of America deserves.”
Several new documents and pieces of information related to the withdrawal and its aftermath have been requested by Republicans from agency heads before March 3. These include withdrawal contingency plans, inter-agency records, communications with NATO leaders about troop drawdown, the stance of terrorist organizations in the months leading up to the withdrawal, details on the closure of Bagram Airfield, and more.
Fox News Digital requested comment on the letters from the White House, Pentagon, DHS, and USAID, but did not immediately get a response.
The State Department, according to a spokesman, “does not comment on Congressional letters,” but it is dedicated to working with legislative bodies charged with overseeing foreign policy.
After the November 2022 pullout of U.S. forces, the Pentagon has reportedly briefed Members and staff from both parties more than 150 times on Afghanistan strategy.
In an interview with Fox News from earlier this month, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) indicated he plans to hold the Biden administration accountable for the botched pullout from Afghanistan.
“The power to force someone to appear in court is in my hands. Not until it’s required, no. But I’m willing to make a sacrifice to learn the truth.” McCaul put it most eloquently, so I will paraphrase it:
The chairman will look at what led to the Taliban taking over Bagram Airport and what inspired the suicide bomber who killed 13 US servicemen.