The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday that the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was an “unconditional surrender to the Taliban” and an “unmitigated disaster of epic proportions” and that the situation is far worse now than it was before the 9/11 attacks.
The criticism by Rep. Michael T. McCaul of Texas came as Mr. Blinken kicked off his testimony before the committee, marking the first congressional inquiry into the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal and scramble to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan refugees, which ended Aug. 31.
“This didn’t have to happen,” Mr. McCaul told Mr. Blinken. “But the president refused to listen to his own generals and the intelligence community who warned him what would happen when we withdrew.”
Mr. Blinken, who testified on a video screen from the State Department, said in his opening remarks that the Taliban had grown in strength by the time the Biden administration came into office in January.
“When President Biden took office in January, he inherited an agreement that his predecessor had reached with the Taliban to remove all remaining forces from Afghanistan by May 1 of this year,” Mr. Blinken said. “By January 2021, the Taliban was in the strongest military position it had been in since 9/11. And we had the smallest number of troops on the ground since 2001.”
House and Senate lawmakers in both parties have pressed the administration for insight into key decisions made leading up to and during the withdrawal that left the U.S. military flat-footed while the Taliban took control of the capital city of Kabul.
Throughout the summer, lawmakers continued raising concerns, warning the administration of a swift Taliban takeover in the absence of U.S. troops.
Those concerns, however, were largely dismissed by the administration. In June, Mr. Blinken testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that a Taliban takeover was not a foregone conclusion.
“If there is a significant deterioration in security, I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday,” Mr. Blinken said.
Republican lawmakers, in particular, have been critical of the Biden administration’s decision to end the U.S. military deployment, saying that Mr. Biden harbored a political aim to end the war by the anniversary of 9/11 rather than basing his decision on the situation on the ground.
Mr. Blinken began his testimony with a firm defense of Mr. Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops, arguing the administration had little choice following President Trump’s deal with the Taliban.
Mr. Biden’s announcement followed an agreement the Trump administration signed with the Taliban in February, pledging to remove all troops by May 1, 2020.
But Mr. Blinken’s remarks are likely to hold little sway over Republicans on the committee.
“Mr. Secretary, the American people don’t like to lose; especially not to terrorists,” Mr. McCaul said. “But that is exactly what happened. This emboldened Taliban – a designated terrorist group – is now equipped with more American weapons than most countries in the world.”
Committee Chairman Gregory W. Meeks, New York Democrat, was far less critical of the administration in his opening remarks, also focusing on the decisions of previous administrations leading up to the exit.
“A war that has gone on for almost 20 years is a disaster,” Mr. Meeks said. “Disentangling ourselves from the war in Afghanistan was never going to be easy. And for my friends who presume a clean solution for the withdrawal existed, I would welcome hearing what exactly a smooth withdrawal from a messy, chaotic 20-year war looks like.”
Although Mr. Meeks stood by the administration’s decision to withdraw, he signaled his concern for key decisions made in the chaotic final weeks of the war. He raised concern over the U.S. citizens that were left behind.
“Now are these things the administration could have done differently? Absolutely,” Mr. Meeks said. “Foremost for me is for the State Department to evaluate how it can better evacuate Americans when events unravel.”
The State Department has confirmed that more than 100 U.S. citizens “who expressed a desire to leave,” were left in Afghanistan as U.S. troops departed.
The administration, forced to work with the Taliban in the recovery of those left behind, has argued that it maintains leverage over the fundamentalist regime. Officials argue that the Taliban seek international recognition in the hopes of resuming much-needed assistance programs.
Some lawmakers are less convinced.
While the State Department continued to help a trickle of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents make it out of Afghanistan over the past week, several charter planes at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport remained blocked amid unraveling State Department communication with the Taliban.
Mr. McCaul called the episode a “hostage situation,” and worried that the Taliban will continue to use U.S. citizens stuck in Afghanistan as a bargaining chip to gain recognition from the U.S. government.
Those concerns further escalated last week as the Taliban appointed several members of the Haqqani network to senior positions within the interim Afghan government.
“We are now at the mercy of this Taliban’s reign of terror,” Mr. McCaul said. “All while a dark veil of sharia law covers Afghanistan.”