Republican lawmakers have initiated an inquiry into the disorganized U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan, which led to sights of thousands of frantic Afghans swarming Kabul airport and clinging to leaving US aircraft on the tarmac. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated on Friday that he had sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding a variety of documents, including intelligence assessments and conversations with the Taliban.
McCaul, a longtime opposition member of the committee who became its chairman when the House turned to Republican power at the beginning of the year, deemed it “absurd and shameful” that the administration of US President Joe Biden “continues to suppress withdrawal-related material.” “In the case of ongoing disobedience, the committee will enforce these demands as required, including through a forced process,” he stated. On August 26, 2021, thirteen American troops were killed in a blast near the Kabul airport as the capital fell. Days later, the government collapsed, despite the fact that $2 trillion had been poured into Afghanistan over the course of two decades by the United States and NATO. While Trump finalized the departure with the Taliban, his Republican Party has harshly criticized Vice President Joe Biden’s leadership of the operation and threatened hearings as part of a series of investigations into his administration. The images of terrified Afghans clutching to US military jets as they taxied down the runway at Kabul airport accompanied a significant decline in Biden’s approval ratings nine months after he was elected pledging calm, competent leadership in the wake of Donald Trump’s chaos.
The State Department did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Friday, but according to US media, it has delivered more than 150 briefings to members of Congress since the pullout in August 2021. Afghanistan was no longer a top priority in the United States, with fifty percent of respondents to a Gallup survey taken a year after the departure stating that the entire war was a mistake. Approximately 2,500 American soldiers were killed in what became the country’s longest conflict.
