On Biden’s Afghan exit, Blinken faces a contentious House hearing on Monday as he defended his withdrawal. He added that we inherited a deadline and not a plan and therefore putting all blame on Biden’s administration is unjustified. The testy House session highlighted lasting partisan rifts as Republicans slammed Biden for bringing US a great humiliation due to his mismanaged and muddled Afghan exit. Also, questions were raised about the efficacy and purposiveness about America’s longest war.
Biden’s Afghan exit is an “unmitigated disaster”, lash Republicans
Republicans called President Joe Biden’s decision and execution of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a “disgrace” and “an unmitigated disaster” that leaves Americans vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. This left US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to face contentious House hearing with Republicans adamant to give Democrats a tough time over their Afghan exit strategy.
And the US muddled exit has paved the way for more attacks on the Americans as the administration has demonstrated a flawed exit strategy. Earlier, in the Reuters/IPSOS poll, Biden’s Afghan exit has plunged his approval ratings with 50% of the Americans viewing his strategy with disapproval and disappointment.
“I never thought in my lifetime that I would see an unconditional surrender to the Taliban,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which held the hearing.
Read more: Biden’s Afghan exit plunges his approval ratings; Reuters/Ipsos poll
Democrats defend Biden’s Afghan exit by blaming Trump
Democrats said the muddled end to America’s 20-year military presence in Afghanistan was inevitable, and they pointed the finger at former President Donald Trump, who negotiated the full U.S. withdrawal in a 2020 deal with the Taliban.
“Disentangling ourselves from … Afghanistan was never going to be easy,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the committee’s chairman and a New York Democrat. “I would welcome hearing what exactly a smooth withdrawal from a messy, chaotic 20-year war looks like … I don’t believe one exists.”
The hearing marked the first time a top Biden administration official has testified publicly about the U.S. withdrawal and the chaotic effort to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies.
Below are some important takeaways from Monday’s contentious House hearing:
Biden administration inherited a deadline with no plan
Blinken and Democratic lawmakers emphasized that when Biden came into office, he faced a May 1 deadline negotiated by Trump officials for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden extended the deadline to Sept. 11 but said any further delay of the withdrawal would have risked reigniting the conflict and risking the lives of American forces.
“When you came into office on Jan. 20, we were committed to pulling everyone out of Afghanistan within three months,” noted Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. “Did the Trump administration leave on your desk a pile of notebooks as to exactly how to carry out that plan. … How meticulous was the planning?”
“We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan,” Blinken answered to the contentious House hearing.
Biden’s top diplomat noted that the Trump-negotiated deal paved the way for the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including many of the militant Islamic group’s top fighters who quickly returned to the battlefield.
“After 20 years, 2,641 American lives lost, 20,000 injuries, and $2 trillion dollars spent, it was time to end America’s longest war,” Blinken said in his opening remarks.
Read more: Trump slams Biden for botched Afghan retreat and bringing US great humiliation
Biden administration is facing a tough time in evacuations
Blinken said about 100 American citizens remain in Afghanistan desperate to leave. He said the State Department has assigned case workers to each U.S. citizen and is committed to evacuating those Americans who want to leave.
“People are making decisions hour-by-hour, if not day-by-day, about whether to leave or not,” he said. The State Department offered 60 seats to Americans on two flights that left the country last week, but only 30 U.S. citizens were prepared to leave at that time.
“We offered seats on the planes that got out last week” to about 60 Americans, he said.
“Some declined to be on the first flights on Thursday and Friday for reasons including needing more time to make arrangements, wanting to remain with extended family for now, or medical issues that preclude traveling now,” he said. “We will continue to help Americans – and Afghans to whom we have a special commitment – depart Afghanistan if they choose.”
Blinken said he could not say how many legal permanent U.S. residents were still in Afghanistan, nor could he say how many Afghans eligible for special U.S. visas because of their service with American forces during the war were left behind.
Overall, the U.S. evacuated more than 120,000 Americans and Afghan allies before the U.S. military withdrew its last forces at the end of last month.
Blinken said he expected to have a more precise breakdown of that population in the coming weeks.
Read more: Biden: Era of military operations ends with Afghanistan
Republicans ask Blinken to resign in the contentious House Hearing
Several Republicans, including Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, used the hearing to call for Blinken’s resignation as they view that the administration is making a mess out of themselves.
They point chaos and violence as evidence to point fingers at Biden’s Afghan exit as hasty and mismanaged. Blinken, however, lashes that the administration is on its foot 24/7 trying to keep things on track. He slams that saying thing and pointing fingers is easy but being on the actual job and facing ground realities is something different.
Zeldin said the U.S. should not have set an “arbitrary” deadline for withdrawal.
“What we should have done was tell the Taliban that we are going to leave Afghanistan when we’re done bringing every last American home,” he said. “You should resign. That would be leadership.”
Wilson accused Blinken and Biden of overriding the advice of military leaders.
Blinken appeared unfazed by the calls for his resignation and other GOP attacks throughout the hourslong session.
“Let me simply thank the representative for his support for the men and women of the State Department. I appreciated that part of the statement,” he said in response to Wilson.
Blinken did show a flash of anger after more than four hours of questioning, when Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Texas Republican, seemed to suggest that State Department personnel had not been at risk in the evacuation operation.
“My team has been working 24/7, around the clock and around the world,” he said. “They’ve been putting themselves on the line. They’ve been putting everything on the line.”
Blinken faces contentious House hearing on left US arsenal
The U.S. military likely abandoned tens of millions of dollars’ worth of aircraft, armored vehicles and sophisticated defensive systems in the rush to leave the airport in Kabul safely. And several Republicans asked Blinken to account for that trove of military equipment.
“Your legacy will be the Taliban flying our Black Hawk helicopters over Kabul,” said Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla.
Blinken noted that millions of dollars in such equipment was handed over to the Afghan security forces, who had been America’s allies in the war. But those fighters surrendered in a matter of days to the Taliban, and GOP lawmakers noted that some of those weapons are now in the hands of the militant Islamic group.
“Our folks worked very hard to disable or dismantle equipment that we controlled,” Blinken said.
What isn’t already disabled would be soon, he said, because the equipment needs to be maintained, and the Taliban doesn’t have the capacity to do that.
Sherman said there was no way to get that equipment out of the country without either betraying Afghan security forces or risking major American casualties.
Read more: U.S. fighter jets flying over Kabul for evacuation security-Pentagon
Ghani’s plan to flee was unexpected
Blinken was asked in the contentious House hearing if he had any advanced knowledge that Afghan former President Ashraf Ghani would flee, something that paved the way for the Taliban to move into the city without a shot being fired.
Blinken said he had spoken with Ghani the day before and the Afghan leader assured him he was committed to a power-sharing agreement with the Taliban or would “fight to the death” if no agreement could be forged.
“He fled the next day. I had no advance warning of that,” Blinken said.
These are some of the tough questions and answers Blinker faced in the contentious House hearing on Monday as he stood to defend Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Read more: Comprehending a bleak picture of Afghanistan