INHOFE, ROGERS URGE BIDEN TO CHANGE COURSE: With the beginning of the end of the U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan to get underway in days and to be completed in a matter of months, Republicans in Congress have only a narrow window to try to reverse the policy they believe is a grave mistake.
“We once again urge President Biden to reconsider his political, calendar-based approach to withdrawing from Afghanistan,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Mike Rogers, ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees. “The United States entered Afghanistan as a result of 9/11, and it is irresponsible to leave when conditions on the ground would lead to a civil war in Afghanistan and allow the country to become a safe haven for terrorists once again,” they said in a joint statement.
“Republicans and Democrats came together to work with the previous administration on a different approach to Syria when a full drawdown was considered in 2019, for exactly the same reason: The best way to protect American families at home is to defeat the terrorists overseas,” they said. “We hope we can come together once again.”
BIDEN ANNOUNCES PLANS TO END AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT AS GOP WARNS OF AL QAEDA THREAT
GOP UNITED IN OPPOSITION: As Biden addressed the nation from the White House Treaty Room, the same location from which President George W. Bush announced the start of the war just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Republicans were denouncing the plan with ominous warnings of impending disaster.
“This administration has decided to abandon U.S. efforts in Afghanistan which have helped keep radical Islamic terrorism in check. And bizarrely, they have decided to do so by September 11th,” said Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor of the Senate. “Apparently, we’re to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it back to them.”
“Our president should remember what happened when the Obama administration let political considerations rush a retreat from Iraq. Chaos, and bloodshed, and ISIS,” he said. “Two years ago, I wrote a bipartisan amendment that warned a Republican administration against recklessly withdrawing from Afghanistan or Syria. A supermajority of senators voted for it, warning that the terrorist threat had not abated. Where are those Democratic voices today?”
While a few Republicans, such as McConnell’s fellow Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, support ending the “forever war,” pretty much every Republican who spoke publicly yesterday echoed the same dire assessment.
“There’s a very real possibility in the very near future, sadly, tragically in a heartbreaking way, the Taliban will regain control or substantial portions of Afghanistan, and that means terrible things for all those people living in that country, and particularly for women and girls,” said Sen. Marco Rubio at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats. “The second thing we need to acknowledge is that if they do, there’s also a very high likelihood that, in fact, if they do, I think it’s almost certain that al Qaeda will return to Afghanistan, will use it as a safe haven, and will use it as a launchpad for terrorist attacks against our country, our people, even potentially here in the homeland.”
“It’s a really reckless decision,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, whose father was vice president when the war began. “The president’s comments saying that he doesn’t understand why, 20 years later, we’re still there really says to me that he doesn’t understand a lot about what’s necessary to protect this nation.”
“If we have got to have forces deployed, a small number of forces deployed, in order to help train the Afghan security forces, in order to help ensure that we don’t have civil war in Afghanistan, so that Afghanistan does not again become a breeding ground for terror, a safe haven for terrorists, then we need to do that for our security,” she said on Fox.
“There’s no great answers, but I do know there is a bad alternative. And, unfortunately, it appears that bad alternative has been made,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger on CNN. “And, frankly, it’s going to be, I fear, a repeat of what we saw in Iraq after the U.S. left. We only had to go back with a bigger force.”
THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT: Republicans kept pointing to what Biden’s own intelligence officials concluded in their just-released report on worldwide threats:
“We assess that prospects for a peace deal will remain low during the next year. The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support. Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taliban is confident it can achieve military victory.”
In his testimony, CIA Director Willian Burns noted that the Taliban are also fighting against ISIS in Afghanistan but conceded, “There is a significant risk once the U.S. military and the coalition militaries withdraw.”
“We will work very hard at CIA and with all of our partners to try to provide the kind of strategic warning to others in the U.S. government that enables them and us to address that threat if it starts to materialize,” he said.
WHITE HOUSE GAMBLES ON TALIBAN KEEPING PROMISE TO PREVENT AL QAEDA’S RETURN TO AFGHANISTAN
DEMOCRATS FALL IN LINE: With the Congress evenly divided, and Democrats in control by the slimmest of margins, there’s little chance of forcing Biden’s hand, unlike the bipartisan consensus two years ago to prevent President Donald Trump from completely abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in Syria.
“I remain convinced that withdrawing our troop presence from Afghanistan is the right policy decision,” said House Armed Service Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith. “I also agree with President Biden that we cannot wait for the perfect security conditions before withdrawing – to do so would mean our men and women in uniform would never return home.”
“We must also be honest about our military presence on the ground, which both helps and hurts,” he said in a statement. “The risks and costs associated with our continued military presence are too high and having U.S. boots on the ground cannot guarantee a stable Afghan government.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: The House Administration Committee will hear from Michael Bolton, inspector general of the U.S. Capitol Police at 1 p.m., who is expected to outline a litany of failures that left Capitol Police embarrassingly unprepared for the Jan. 6 assault by pro-Trump rioters.
Bolton has provided lawmakers with confidential summaries of his preliminary findings in advance of his public testimony. In his prepared remarks, Bolton will say the department needs to undergo a fundamental culture transformation, according to a summary obtained by CQ Roll Call.
“In regards to culture change, we see that the department needs to move away from the thought process as a traditional police department and move to the posture as a protective agency,” Bolton will reportedly say. “A police department is a reactive force. A crime is committed; police respond and make an arrest. Whereas, a protective agency is postured to being proactive to prevent events such as January 6th.”
OFFICER WHO SHOT AND KILLED ASHLI BABBITT DURING CAPITOL RIOT WILL NOT BE CHARGED
ALSO TODAY: Adm. Craig Faller, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, and Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command, are back on the Hill today, this time on the House side. Faller testifies before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee at 10 a.m., while Wolters appears before the House Armed Services Committee at 11 a.m.
PEACE DIVIDEND? It’s possible that Biden’s decision to pull the plug on the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan could have an impact on next year’s defense budget. The administration is requesting $715 billion for the Pentagon, $753 billion if you count the money for nuclear weapons programs under the Department of Energy.
Ending direct military support to the Afghan government could free up as much as $21 billion of “additional trade-space,” according to calculations by budget expert James McAleese of McAleese & Associates.
But any savings could be offset, depending on how and where the U.S. troops are redeployed.
JUST IN: BLINKEN IN AFGHANISTAN TO SELL BIDEN TROOP WITHDRAWAL
WHERE WILL THEY GO? “I have concluded that it’s time to end America’s longest war. It’s time for American troops to come home,” Biden said yesterday in his announcement from the White House.
But in his next breath, Biden hedged about whether “home” will be the troop’s final destination. “We’ll reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorists — of the threat to our homeland from over the horizon,” he said.
At NATO headquarters yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave few details about how U.S. troops might be redeployed in the region for that “over the horizon” mission.
“The United States and our allies will coordinate closely on our next steps,” said Blinken after meeting with fellow foreign ministers. “We have always said, as the secretary-general noted, that our plan was ‘in together, adjust together, out together.’ And today, we began to hammer out what ‘out together’ looks like.”
“I think you’ll understand why I won’t get into specific details about where our counterterrorist assets may be positioned,” said Austin. “I would tell you that we are beginning the process now of working out details with allies and partners about how we’re going to do that, and we’ll work those details in the appropriate channels.”
“We have a range of capabilities that are available to us,” he said. “And the president has been clear that we will not allow our homeland to be attacked again from the spaces of Afghanistan.”
BIDEN HIGHLIGHTS: In his remarks yesterday, Biden made a number of arguments for what he said was not an easy decision. Here are some of his key quotes:
“I said … we’d follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That’s exactly what we did, and we got him … That was 10 years ago. Think about that. We delivered justice to bin Laden a decade ago, and we’ve stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since.”
“The main argument for staying longer is what each of my three predecessors have grappled with: No one wants to say that we should be in Afghanistan forever, but they insist now is not the right moment to leave … So when will it be the right moment to leave? One more year, two more years, ten more years? Ten, twenty, thirty billion dollars more above the trillion we’ve already spent?”
“I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That’s what we inherited, that commitment. It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something.”
“I’m the first president in 40 years who knows what it means to have a child serving in a warzone … We already have service members doing their duty in Afghanistan today whose parents served in the same war. We have service members who were not yet born when our nation was attacked on 9/11.”
“I’m now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.”
“War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking. We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda is degraded … in Afghanistan. And it’s time to end the forever war.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Biden announces plans to end Afghanistan conflict as GOP warns of al Qaeda threat
Washington Examiner: White House gambles on Taliban keeping promise to prevent al Qaeda’s return to Afghanistan
Washington Examiner: Republicans call for FBI investigation into Biden’s Pentagon policy nominee
Washington Examiner: US intelligence chiefs: ‘We don’t know’ Putin’s reason for military buildup on Ukrainian border
Washington Examiner: Intelligence community actively investigating Wuhan lab as possible COVID-19 origin
Washington Examiner: Intel chief: China to put space station in orbit during Biden presidency
Washington Examiner: China conducts live-fire military drills as Biden friends arrive in Taiwan
Washington Examiner: Officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during Capitol riot will not be charged
AP: Months after hack, US poised to announce sanctions on Russia
Reuters: Russia, Ukraine Hold Military Drills, NATO Criticises Russian Troop Build-Up
Reuters: U.S. Cancels Warships Deployment To Black Sea -Turkish Diplomatic Sources
USNI News: CNO Gilday: China, Russia Deliberately Testing Allies ‘Cohesion’ in Actions in Ukraine, Near Taiwan’
CNN: U.S. And Other NATO Members Pledge Support To Ukraine While Walking Fine Line With Russia
New York Times: Afghans Wonder ‘What About Us?’ as U.S. Troops Prepare to Withdraw
AP: US troop pullout will leave behind an uncertain Afghanistan
AP: Analysis: Biden takes a risk pulling troops from Afghanistan
Washington Post: For Afghanistan veterans, old feelings of frustration and loss surface as the U.S. prepares to end its longest war
New York Times: Despite Sabotage, Iran’s Top Leader Endorses Talks to Salvage Nuclear Deal
South China Morning Post: China’s Military To Hold Live-Fire Drills Off Taiwan As U.S. Delegation Visits The Island
Naval News: China’s New Aircraft Carrier Is In Same League As US Navy’s Ford Class
USNI News: Lawmakers Quiz SOUTHCOM’s Faller on Littoral Combat Ship Program
Air Force Magazine: NORTHCOM’s Budget Priority: Longer Warning Time
Air Force Magazine: F-15C Records Longest Air-to-Air Shot in Test
Foreign Policy: Biden’s Withdrawal Plan Sets the Clock Ticking in Afghanistan
New York Times: Opinion: I Fought in Afghanistan. I Still Wonder, Was It Worth It?
The National Interest: Opinion: America Must Secure Its Geospatial-Intelligence Information Supply Chain
Calendar
THURSDAY | APRIL 15
9:50 a.m. — AFC-Lieber Institute at West Point virtual event: “The Future Character of War and the Law of Armed Conflict,” with Gen. John Murray, commander, Army Futures Command. https://lieber.westpoint.edu/event
10 a.m. — House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on “United States Southern Command,” with Adm. Craig Faller, commander of the U.S. Southern Command. http://appropriations.house.gov
10 a.m. — Center for Global Development virtual discussion on the new U.K. Defense Security and Foreign Policy Review and other issues, with former U.K. Secretary of State for International Development Rory Stewart; and Charles Kenny, CGD senior fellow https://www.cgdev.org/event/conversation-rory-stewart
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activities in Europe,” with Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia; and Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
11 a.m. — Georgetown University virtual discussion: “U.S.- Russia: Hitting the Guardrails?” with Anton Troianovski, chief of the New York Times Moscow Bureau; Elena Chernenko, special correspondent at the Kommersant newspaper; and Jill Dougherty, former chief and correspondent at the CNN Moscow Bureau. https://www.georgetown.edu/event/u-s-russia-hitting-the-guardrails
11:30 a.m. — Wilson Center press briefing on President Biden’s plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, with Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia, Asia Program. https://engage.wilsoncenter.org/a/press-briefing
1 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Defense Against the Dark Arts in Space,” with Victoria Samson, Washington Office director, Secure World Foundation; Frank Rose, co-director, Brookings Institute Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; David Edmonson, policy head, space security and advanced threats, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, Observer Research Foundation; and Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.csis.org/events/defense-against-dark-arts-space
4 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel hearing: “Department of Defense Inspector General and the Services Inspector Generals: Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities for Improvement,” with Gordon Heddell, former DOD inspector general; Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information, Project on Government Oversight; Sean O’Donnell, acting DOD Inspector General; Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, inspector general of the Army; Lt. Gen. Sami Said, inspector general of the Air Force; Vice Adm. Richard Snyder, Naval Inspector General; and Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi, inspector general of the Marine Corps. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
FRIDAY | APRIL 16
10 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion: “U.S.-Taiwan Partnership in the Pacific Islands,” with Sandra Oudkirk, U.S. senior official for APEC and deputy assistant secretary of State for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and Chung-kwang Tien, deputy minister of foreign affairs and chancellor of the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). https://www.heritage.org/asia/event/virtual-event
11 a.m. — Business Executives for National Security virtual discussion with Lt. Gen. Jody J. Daniels, chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command. https://www.bens.org
11:15 a.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conference call conversation with Gen. Michael X. Garrett, commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu
TUESDAY | APRIL 20
11 a.m. — Lockheed Martin Corporation releases 20210 1st quarter earnings results in a webcast https://investors.lockheedmartin.com/events
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activities in the Greater Middle East and Africa,” with Amanda Dory, acting undersecretary of defense for Policy; Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander, U.S. Central Command; Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
2:30 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Thought Leaders” webinar with retired Gen. George Joulwan, former supreme NATO commander to discuss his new memoir: Watchman at the Gates: A Soldier’s Journey from Berlin to Bosnia. https://info.ausa.org
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 21
4 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing: “FY22 Strategic Forces Posture,” with Melissa Dalton, acting assistant secretary of defense, strategy, plans and capabilities; Adm. Charles Richard, commander. U.S. Strategic Command; and Gen. James Dickinson, commander. U.S. Space Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
THURSDAY | APRIL 22
9:30 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittees on Tactical Air and Land Forces and Readiness Joint hearing: “Update on F-35 Program Accomplishments, Issues, and Risks,” with Diana Maurer, director, military structure and operations issues, GAO; Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of aeronautics, Lockheed Martin; Matthew Bromberg, president, military engines, Pratt & Whitney; Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, program executive officer, F-35 Joint Program Office; Brig. Gen. David Abba, director, F-35 Integration Office, U.S. Air Force. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
9:50 a.m. — U.S. Army Futures Command and the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at West Point virtual seminar: “The Future Character of War and the Law of Armed Conflict.” https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-character-of-war
10 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research event “Priorities for the fiscal year 2022 defense budget,” with Rep. Adam Smith, chairman, House Armed Services Committee; and Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/a-conversation
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activities in Europe, with Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
4 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Department of Defense Inspector General and the Services Inspector Generals: Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities for Improvement,” with Gordon Heddell, former inspector general of the Department of Defense; Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information Project on Government Oversight; Sean O’Donnell, acting/inspector general of the Department of Defense; Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, inspector general of the Army; Lt. Gen. Sami Said, iInspector general of the Air Force; Vice Adm. Richard Snyder, inspector general of the Navy; and Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi, inspector general of the Marine Corps. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.”
President Joe Biden, announcing his plan to withdraw all remaining combat troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
