‘Blatant Obstruction’: GOP Lawmaker Blasts Biden for Withholding Information on Afghanistan Withdrawal

According to the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s newly appointed chair, the Biden administration has withheld scores of documents and communications relating to its failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

“I will not tolerate the Biden administration’s blatant obstruction of numerous congressional requests relating to the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R. Texas), was the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. “Democrats have utterly failed to hold this administration accountable when our veterans and gold star wives deserve answers.”

McCaul claims that Republicans are increasing their oversight to expose the fact that the United States ignored intelligence warning of a Taliban takeover. McCaul received a letter from McCaul after he took over the House Foreign Affairs Committee. letter To the State Department, asking for documents to be turned over to give the American public a complete account of the chaotic operation.

The State Department has refused for nearly a year and a half to hand over information about how many Americans remain stranded in the country, intelligence reports warning the country could collapse, internal assessments about the threat posed by ISIS and the Taliban, information about the Biden administration’s current engagement with the Taliban, and internal documents related to the deadly strike on Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 American military members.

Without these documents, lawmakers are unable to piece together how the Biden administration’s hurried evacuation from the country fell apart. This information is crucial for both Democrats and Republicans in holding the administration accountable during the 2021 withdrawal.

“Past requests for documents and information on the withdrawal dating back to August 2021 have generally gone unanswered for well over a year,” McCaul wrote the January 12th letter to the State Department. “It is imperative that the State Department provide complete responses to these longstanding requests, and the committee will not tolerate continued delay.”

According to sources familiar with this issue, the State Department has not provided any documents requested from lawmakers back as far as August 2021.

The amount of information and documentation being withheld by the State Department comprises nearly 10 pages of McCaul’s letter, revealing the sheer number of documents the administration is keeping hidden.

This includes “all reports, intelligence assessments, and intelligence community products” It is centered around “the potential collapse or sustainability of the pre-Taliban government.” These documents can be seen

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