One year after the United States’s chaotic troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, House Republicans are slamming President Joe Biden’s handling of the exit and accusing the White House of attempting to rewrite history.
GOP lawmakers marked the anniversary of Kabul falling to the Taliban with a barrage of criticism on Monday, arguing the Biden administration’s decision to stick to a self-imposed end-of-August deadline for pulling out troops led to the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country, endangered allies, and weakened the U.S. standing on the world stage.
GOP lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by ranking member Michael McCaul (R-TX), released a report ahead of the anniversary accusing the administration of purposefully misleading the public and laying out a blueprint for a congressional investigation should Republicans win the House majority in November.
HOUSE GOP REPORT ACCUSES BIDEN OF KNOWINGLY MISLEADING PUBLIC ABOUT AFGHANISTAN EXIT
Among its findings, the lawmakers found that 800 American citizens have been evacuated from Afghanistan since Aug. 31, 2021, despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken telling lawmakers that there were only roughly 100 who wanted to leave who remained there.
“The signature failure of this administration is unquestionably the catastrophic withdrawal and the wholesale abandonment of hundreds of Americans that Joe Biden stranded in Kabul after promising that he wouldn’t,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said. “One year later, the lies this White House told only look worse.”
In an effort to preempt the criticisms, the White House circulated a memo among Democrats on Capitol Hill defending itself and alleging that the GOP report is “riddled with inaccurate characterizations, cherry-picked information, and false claims advocates for endless war and for sending even more American troops to Afghanistan.”
The Biden administration has stood by the way it pulled troops out of the country despite enduring bipartisan criticism as the evacuation was taking place.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) joined the ranking Republicans of several congressional committees Monday in pushing back on the Biden administration’s messaging strategy.
“Attempting to justify his tumultuous exit, President Joe Biden claimed last year that al-Qaeda was ‘gone’ from Afghanistan. Yet less than one year later, the United States rightfully killed al-Qaeda’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, during a counterterrorism operation in Kabul. However, this not only underscores the extent of the Biden administration’s failures in Afghanistan, but is evidence that Afghanistan is once again becoming a haven for terrorists,” they wrote in a Fox News op-ed.
Republicans emphasized the 13 American soldiers killed in the final days of August, when suicide bombers attacked troops overseeing the chaotic evacuation at the Kabul airport.
“Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan led to chaos and 13 service members dead. Today the White House will try and rewrite history. But Americans will never forget,” Elise Stefanik (NY), the House GOP conference chairwoman, said in a tweet.
Stefanik promised that House Republicans will scrutinize the withdrawal next year if they take back the House in the midterm elections.
“Joe Biden’s Administration has not been held accountable for one of the largest national security crises in a generation that cost the lives of 13 American service members. A House Republican majority will hold Biden accountable,” she said.
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The party needs to net five seats to take control of the lower chamber.
