US Republicans probe chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal

WASHINGTON - Republicans launched an investigation on Friday into the

chaotic US withdrawal

from Afghanistan that sparked a

lightning takeover of the war-ravaged country by the Taliban

and the death of 13 American troops in a militant attack.

Mr Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had written to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting an array of records, from intelligence assessments to communications with the Taliban.

“It is absurd and disgraceful that the Biden administration has repeatedly denied our longstanding oversight requests and continues to withhold information related to the withdrawal,” said Mr McCaul, a longstanding opposition member on the panel who became its chairman after the House flipped to Republican control at the start of 2023.

“In the event of continued non-compliance, the committee will use the authorities available to it to enforce these requests as necessary, including through a compulsory process.”

The US soldiers were killed on Aug 26, 2021, in a bombing outside Kabul’s airport as the capital fell, with the government crumbling days later despite US$2 trillion (S$2.64 trillion) pumped into Afghanistan over two decades.

Images of crowds storming parked planes, climbing atop aircraft, and some clinging to a departing US military cargo plane as it rolled down the runway, were aired around the world.

The scenes preceded a sharp drop in US President Joe Biden’s approval ratings, nine months after he was elected promising smooth, competent leadership after the pandemonium under his predecessor Donald Trump.

While Mr Trump sealed the withdrawal with the Taliban, his Republican Party has roundly criticised Mr Biden’s handling of the operation and vowed hearings as part of a series of probes into his administration.

The State Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment but says it has provided more than 150 briefings to members of Congress since the August 2021 withdrawal, according to US media.

Around 2,500 American troops died in the United States’ longest war, but Afghanistan is no longer a priority back home, with 50 per cent of respondents to a Gallup poll conducted a year after the withdrawal saying the entire war was a mistake. AFP