Bipartisan Effort Underway To Probe Biden Administration Over Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - Various members of U.S. congress, including many democrats are now seeking to probe the Biden administration over the events that have unfolded in Afghanistan after a growing consensus that the entire situation was not handled as it should have been.
Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stated, "The events of recent days have been the culmination of a series of mistakes made by Republican and Democratic administrations over the past 20 years. We are now witnessing the horrifying result of many years of policy and intelligence failures".
Menedez said that his committee would be holding a hearing regarding United States policy on Afghanistan, which will be including negotiations between the Trump administration and the Taliban, as well as the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal process.
Committee Republicans have stated that they would like the Security of State Antony Blinken testifying to "understand why the State Department was so ill prepared for the contingencies unfolding before us. Updates from the State Department have been inconsistent, lacked important detail, and not be responsive to Members and the American people".
A hearing date has not yet been announced, but Senator Mark Warner who is the chairmen of the Democratic Intelligence Committee said on Monday that he wanted to work with the other committees to "to ask tough but necessary questions" regarding why the US military was not prepared for the collapse of Afghanistan and its government.
The Republicans on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee criticized Biden's policies, stating "The security and humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Afghanistan could have been avoided if you had done any planning" on Tuesday.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is calling for an investigation into the intelligence given to the Biden administration that ultimately lead to Biden's decision to pull the US troops out of Afghanistan so quickly after 20 years of having a presence in the country, leading to the Taliban having the ability to so quickly capture all of the countries cities.
McCarthy told Punchbowl News, "How does the rest of the world look at us? They like that the president doesn’t tweet, but they don’t think America is very tough".
Although House lawmakers were briefed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Republican lawmakers told the New York Post that the briefing call "failed to provide adequate answers". One Republican lawmaker stated that "More helpful information is available on Twitter".
Another Republican lawmaker said that the Biden administration's handling of the situation in Afghanistan a "Dumpster fire" among other, more colorful descriptions of the administration's failures.
The Biden administration openly admitted that they didn't expect the collapse of the Afghan government so quickly but quickly shifted most of the blame to the Trump administration, saying that Trump's policies left the Biden Administration in a weakened position.
Biden's presidential campaign promise was that his administration would be 'transparent', and that he would 'take responsibility' for his actions and not 'blame others', which has cast a stark contrast on the lack of transparency and blame shifting the administration is currently embroiled in.
During his campaign run Biden promised, "It's hard to believe this has to be said, but unlike this president, I’ll do my job and take responsibility. I won't blame others. And I'll never forget that the job isn't about me — it's about you".
Meanwhile, Biden stands by his decision saying, "I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces" and blamed the Afghan military for not having "the will to fight" for their country or future.