Blinken fails to give House crucial Afghanistan withdrawal documents: Report.
Secretary of State Blinken Fails to Provide Key Documents on Afghanistan Withdrawal
According to a news report published on Saturday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has failed to produce eight crucial documents to the House Foreign Affairs Committee regarding the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan two years ago.
The State Department did provide the committee with 300 documents related to the Afghanistan withdrawal on Thursday. However, committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) had specifically requested eight documents in a letter dated August 9, which were not included in the submission. These documents, including memos from Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Todd Brown, were identified in the Afghanistan After-Action Review.
Importance of the Missing Documents
“The AAR files are necessary to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again,” stated McCaul on August 10.
According to an unnamed committee source, the 300 documents provided largely contained information that was already publicly available. The deadline to provide all requested documents to the committee was Tuesday.
Critics of the withdrawal have labeled it as “disastrous” following the Taliban takeover, which resulted in the deaths of over 170 people and 13 military servicemembers. McCaul is determined to obtain more answers from the Biden administration regarding the evacuation, including information on the denial of a preemptive airstrike request despite U.S. intelligence knowing about an impending ISIS attack targeting Americans.
“I will not rest until we get answers and accountability as to what happened,” declared McCaul. “How did this go so wrong?”
Findings of the After-Action Report
The after-action report, published this summer, revealed that both the Biden and Trump administrations lacked sufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and the speed at which they could unfold while striving to meet the withdrawal deadline.
The report also highlighted the overestimation of the now-defunct democratically elected Afghan government’s ability to withstand Taliban offensives. Additionally, it emphasized the clear lack of communication between the Pentagon and State Department, as well as among leaders within these entities, which further exacerbated the situation.
White House Response and Blinken’s Defense
The two-year anniversary of the evacuation went unnoticed by the White House on Tuesday. However, Secretary Blinken maintained that the administration made the right decision in withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan.
“The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was an incredibly difficult one, but also the right one,” Blinken told reporters. “We ended America’s longest war. For the first time in 20 years, we don’t have another generation of young Americans going to fight and die in Afghanistan.”
White House officials did not confirm whether the president will address the withdrawal later this month but mentioned that the anniversary of the full evacuation occurs at the end of the month.
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