Democrats suggest that moves in the U.S. House to condemn the Biden administration and to hold Sec. of State Antony Blinken (pictured above) in contempt are just political theater. But that’s far from the case, says a member of the committee looking into the administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan more than three years ago.
The Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021 began Joe Biden’s run as president with a blight – and it’s following him until the end. The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 26-25 Tuesday to hold Blinken in contempt for ignoring their demands that he appear and answer questions about the event, which included 13 American servicemembers dying during a suicide bomb attack at the airport.
Scenes from that day included Afghans trying to escape by hanging onto airplanes at takeoff.
In their quest for accountability from the administration, committee members have heard from many in the chain of command – but not from Blinken, the most important link. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said contempt charges are not likely to be considered by the full House before Election Day on Nov. 5.
Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Washington Watch Wednesday that the contempt vote was the right thing to do.
“This was a very important vote that we took because by doing so, we took a step to say, ‘Look, we needed to talk to the very top of the State Department to get answers.’ Particularly, we needed answers Sec. Blinken that nobody else could answer,” Moran explained.
The biggest questions, according to the Texas Republican, are about timing. Moran said the committee hopes to learn, for example: Why didn't the State Department evacuate noncombatants sooner? Why didn’t the U.S. defend local Afghans sooner, the way generals and others in the Defense Department suggested?
In short, “Why was it such a mess?” Moran asked in his interchange with show host Tony Perkins.
Blinken’s response to House committee
Blinken wrote to committee members over last weekend and defended his absence in spite of a subpoena issued to compel his testimony.
"As I have made clear, I am willing to testify and have offered several reasonable alternatives to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee during which I am carrying out the President’s important foreign policy objectives,” he wrote.
Instead of heading to Capitol Hill, Blinken was in New York, attending Biden’s Tuesday speech at the U.N. Republicans, though, aren’t on board with the idea that speech was important foreign policy.
“Sec. Blinken is hiding at the United Nations General Assembly in New York,” committee member Rep. Jim Baird (R-Indiana) stated at the time.
Moran continued: “We talked to a number of military leaders about the plan for withdrawal, but when you talk about keeping the State Department officials there on the ground for as long as he did, we needed to know why. Why was that happening? Why did they not evacuate those State Department officials earlier?"
Moran stated that the committee is concerned the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan remained open for as long as it did, into mid-August, when it was clear safety and security were breaking down.
“Responsibility starts at the top, and Sec. Blinken is the last person in the chain who we have not been able to talk to for these final answers on the botched withdrawal,” Moran said.
The responsibility, he argued, must be shared by Biden and his vice president, the woman who hopes to replace him. The full House voted Wednesday to condemn Biden, Kamala Harris and 13 other administration officials for the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“They were consulting with not just Blinken but the miliary advisors on making those decisions. There’s a number of people in the chain of command who need to be held accountable, but it starts, really, at the top with President Biden and Vice President Harris,” Moran stated.
The resolution criticized the administration’s “decision-making and execution failures throughout the withdrawal,” including the “willful refusal to properly plan for a non-combatant evacuation operation.”
Better late than never
For Republicans, Blinken’s participation in the withdrawal probe and the resolution against the Biden administration represent the last chance for some measure of accountability for something so embarrassing and dangerous. They’re pushing back against critics who see the Afghanistan withdrawal as unfortunate history and a waste of time.
But the impacts are real, Moran said, not only for America but for her allies. The withdrawal has been a big factor in the rise of total totalitarianism in tyrannical regimes, he said – adding that the lessons learned cannot be forgotten.
“It’s vitally important that we do not forget the sacrifice and service of our military members, but also that we need to do better in the future," Moran concluded. "If the story is just told once, we're going to forget it – we're not going to re-learn the lessons of history, and we're not going to do better next time."
The mistakes made in the Afghanistan withdrawal, according to Moran, have "crippled the trust" America had across the world before that event.
