House Republican Warns of Possible Blinken Contempt Charge for Afghanistan Newspaper

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives has just gotten into another fight with the Joe Biden administration.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said on Sunday he plans to move forward with possible contempt charges against Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the latter’s refusal to turn over a document known as a “dissent cable” related to the withdrawal of US forces in 2021 from Afghanistan

The July 2021 cable, an internal State Department document, reportedly warned of the Taliban’s rapidly growing force and the complete inability of Afghanistan’s security forces to defend large swaths of the country, which quickly fell into the hands of the militant group.

McCaul and Republicans want the document released, arguing it will show the Biden administration ignored advice from experts who warned of the rapidly deteriorating situation before Kabul fell to the Taliban. It was written by nearly two dozen State Department officials formerly stationed in the country.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan panicked as the capital city fell to Taliban forces, and questions have been raised as to whether the administration should have been taken by surprise, as evidenced by statements by officials promoting the Afghan National Army Force.

The chaotic evacuation of Kabul led to horrifying scenes of Afghan civilians running towards moving planes, and in some cases dying while trying to hold on to departing AC-130 cargo planes being used to evacuate US forces and equipment from the city.

A little more than a dozen US soldiers have also been killed in recent days by an ISIS-aligned suicide bomber, while a US operation reportedly aimed at destroying another suicide bomber ended with the death of an entire Afghan family.

The surreal and tragic situation was criticized from all sides in the days and months after the evacuation was concluded, with some arguing that the Biden administration should have been better prepared for the fall of Kabul, while others argued that the White House should have increased the troops. to the region once the instability of the Afghan government became apparent.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan had actually begun under former President Donald Trump, who set a withdrawal deadline that the Biden administration was forced to extend by several months.

After the agreed deadline, the Taliban forces once again considered US forces in the country as enemies and targets.

The Afghan government collapsed in a matter of weeks before the fall of Kabul, leaving former president Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country by plane.