Title
- September 10, 2024 06:03am
- 112
**Title**: McCaul Threatens to Hold Blinken in Contempt Over Afghanistan Withdrawal
**Sapo**: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is threatening to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he does not comply with a subpoena to testify on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Title
**Article**:
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is threatening to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he does not comply with a subpoena to testify on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Title
McCaul made the threat on Monday during a press conference after the release of a 350-page report on the withdrawal that the committee worked on for much of the past nearly two years of the Republican majority.
"This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions," McCaul told reporters. "This is a disgrace. I will hold him in contempt if that's what it takes to bring him before the American people."
Title
McCaul subpoenaed Blinken last week, saying he must appear before the committee by Sept. 19.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel shrugged off the committee's threats.
Title
"The majority isn't truly interested in legislating on Afghanistan policy. If they were, they would have sought to speak to the secretary long ago," he told reporters Monday.
"They would have sought to speak to him to get his input as they make this report," he said. "Instead they waited until the report was completely finished to come back to us."
In May, McCaul asked Blinken to appear at a hearing in September on the committee's report on its investigation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The State Department failed on several occasions to provide a date for Blinken to appear before lawmakers, McCaul said.
But the State Department said Monday Blinken had testified before House and Senate committees 14 times on the withdrawal, including four times before the Foreign Affairs Committee.
McCaul also hinted that he believes there should still be a small contingency of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
"We cannot see now into Afghanistan except through over the horizon, which doesn't work. We can't see Russia, China and Iran, either, because of this tragic failure of foreign policy," he told reporters.
"We can't see all of ISIS gathering in the Korazhan region of Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, making their way to the United States of America. That is what they did to us," the chairman went on.
"They embolden the unholy alliance of Putin, Xi, the Ayatollah and Kim Jong Un," he said, referring to the leaders of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
The Biden administration has long claimed the president's hands were tied by the Doha agreement negotiated under President Trump that laid out a deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.
But the new report detailed how the Taliban had failed to hold up their end of the deal, absolving the U.S. of any obligation to adhere to it.
"Biden, for his part, faced a stark choice when he came to office, abide by the flawed agreement and end America's longest war, or blow up the deal, extend the war, and see a much smaller contingent of American troops back in combat with the Taliban," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
"He chose the former and was able to buy additional time to prepare for that withdrawal all the way into the summer. And we, as a nation are safer for it. Any and every discussion about what happened in Afghanistan has to start right there. Sadly, the report does not dwell on it."
The damning report claims that while US military personnel were drawing down their footprint in the nation, the State Department was growing theirs.
And according to the report, U.S. Ambassador Ross Wilson was on vacation in mid-July 2021. He allegedly hightailed it out of the country and left some local embassy staff behind.
According to the report, he had COVID-19 at the time and forced a foreign service officer to take his COVID test so he could get on the plane.
Wilson previously said the Covid-19 allegation is "false" and he never asked anyone to take a test for him.
Patel defended Wilson.
"I'm just not going to get into a tit-for-tat with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but what I can say is that it is not my understanding that he was on vacation at the beginning of August. Beyond that, I will just echo what I said previously about Ambassador Wilson, that this is an esteemed individual, a decorated Foreign Service officer."
He claimed the GOP-led report chose "scandal over substance" and called it a "collection of cherry-picked comments… designed to paint an inaccurate picture of this administration’s efforts" and said Wilson was the "last diplomat to leave Afghanistan after the United States ended its military presence."
He claimed the withdrawal was carried out in a way that was consistent with department policy. "The drawdown in Kabul was conducted in a manner which is consistent with our departments and our country's standards and protocols when faced in those circumstances."
He said he did not have a headcount on how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, but touted the more than 18,000 Afghan special immigrant visas (SIVs) for the U.S.'s Afghan allies, such as interpreters, that were processed in 2023.
This report has been updated to include Wilson's denial of the Covid-19 allegation and to reflect that Wilson was accused of leaving some, not all, embassy staff behind.
Related articles
-
Kamala Harris Criticized for Lack of Policy Details in 'Call Her Daddy' Interview
## Kamala Harris Criticized for Lack of Policy Details in 'Call Her Daddy' InterviewVice President Kamala Harris's recent interview on the "Call Her...
- 06 Oct 2024
-
Latinos: Shifting to Trump Due to Internalized Racism, Says Journalist
Journalist Paola Ramos, in her new book "Defectors," argues that internalized racism is a significant factor in the shift of Latino voters toward...
- 06 Oct 2024
-
Trump Faces Assassination Threats, Blames Biden-Harris Rhetoric
Former President Donald Trump has admitted to feeling unsafe on the campaign trail following two assassination attempts, with the second narrowly...
- 06 Oct 2024
-
Hurricane Helene: Speaker Johnson Slams Biden Administration's Response, Warns Recovery Cost Could Be Astronomical
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson accuses the Biden administration of mishandling the deadly hurricane, predicting a recovery cost that could be among...
- 05 Oct 2024
-
Biden Blindsided by Trump Ad in Surprise Briefing
President Biden's unscheduled appearance at a White House press briefing on Friday backfired, handing former President Trump a major campaign...
- 05 Oct 2024
-
The New York Times Criticizes Biden for Avoiding Media Questions
The New York Times has called out President Joe Biden for avoiding substantial questions from the press, while liberal celebrities continue to...
- 05 Oct 2024
Leave a comment
Your comment is awaiting moderation. We save your draft here
0 Comments
Chưa có bình luận nào