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House Committee to Hold Briefing on Afghanistan; Dems Keep Session Closed

House Committee to Hold Briefing on Afghanistan; Dems Keep Session Closed
(Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

By    |   Friday, 10 June 2022 06:55 PM EDT

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will examine the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan in a classified meeting, according to The Hill.

The hearing is expected to take place from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, June 15, according to the committee's website.

The briefing will also discuss "the evolution of U.S. policy towards Afghanistan from 2017 through August 2021," and senior State Department officials will reportedly take part.

The panel is headed by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

A source familiar with the hearing told The Hill that the State Department would have allowed part of it to take place in open session so some of the information could be made public, but the committee's Democrat majority vetoed that idea.

McCaul said it was "disappointing" that the panel has had "only one full committee, open hearing dedicated to Afghanistan" since August 2021, in a statement to The Hill.

"The American people deserve a transparent and robust investigation," he said.

Briefing witnesses include five top State Department officials who were involved in the U.S. operation to pull out of Afghanistan and who make U.S. policy toward the country.

In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified in front of the panel about Afghanistan and he and other Cabinet members have answered questions about the country in several hearings with both House and Senate committees, according to The Hill.

The Biden administration was sharply criticized for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 because it failed to predict how the Afghan government would abandon the country to the Taliban, which took over capital city Kabul in a few days.

The chaotic American exit was marred by an air evacuation from the U.S. Embassy and images of desperate people falling to their deaths from planes leaving the airport near Kabul.

Perhaps most damning of all was the administration's failure to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghan allies and hundreds of Americans when U.S. forces permanently left the country on Aug. 31.

Thirteen U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghans were killed and countless others wounded when a terrorist bombing rocked the area near the gates of the Kabul airport on Aug. 26.

Republicans called for the resignation of senior administration officials in the aftermath, including the secretary of defense, secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Politics
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will examine the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan in a classified meeting, according to The Hill. The hearing is expected to take place from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 15, according to the committee's ...
afghanistan, classified, house foreign affairs
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2022-55-10
Friday, 10 June 2022 06:55 PM
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