WASHINGTON - Today, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Oversight Republicans sent a letter to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Subcommittee on National Security Chairman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) renewing their request for a public hearing on the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Committee Democrats continue to ignore requests to hold the Biden Administration accountable and have failed to fulfill their duty to conduct meaningful oversight over the ongoing national security and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
“On Aug. 18, 2021, we wrote to you requesting a hearing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. You never responded. On Sept. 22, 2021, you held a highly classified, closed door, Members-only briefing that did not include either Secretary Blinken or Secretary Austin. This briefing did not answer our questions, did not answer the American people’s questions, and did not absolve you of your duty to conduct public oversight over the ongoing national security and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan," wrote the lawmakers. “We should have had a hearing a month ago. What are you waiting for? Because as we continue to wait for transparency and accountability, the Biden Administration continues making disastrous decisions with deadly consequences."
Since their initial request:
1. Radical terrorists killed 13 U.S. servicemen and women and dozens of Afghans outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport;
2. The Biden Administration conducted a drone strike that killed ten Afghan civilians, including seven children, and kept the truth from the public for over two weeks;
3. The Biden Administration stranded hundreds of American citizens and American green card holders in Afghanistan to meet its self-imposed withdrawal deadline.
4. The Taliban-formed Afghan government includes U.S.-recognized terrorists, including some from the lethal Haqqani Network;
5. The Taliban threw a military parade with their newly acquired U.S.-made military arsenal;
6. The Taliban invited China, Russia, and Iran to its official event recognizing its takeover;
7. Osama bin Laden’s security chief was welcomed back into Afghanistan to applause after 20 years of exile;
8. The Taliban have violently beaten women protesting for equal rights;
9. The Taliban formed an all-male government
10. The Taliban eliminated the Women’s Affairs Ministry and replaced it with the Ministry for Preaching and Guidance and the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice;
11. The Taliban banned women and girls from attending secondary education institutions;
12. The Biden Administration shared intelligence with the Taliban, potentially allowing them to warn their allies of upcoming U.S. evacuation or military efforts;
13. The Biden Administration shared a list of Americans and American allies with the Taliban, providing the Taliban with a potential “kill list;"
14. The Taliban beat and detained journalists reporting on equal rights protests;
15. The Biden Administration failed to properly vet Afghans fleeing the country, allowing multiple violent felons into the U.S.;
16. The Taliban held six planes hostage, carrying hundreds of evacuees, and refused to allow them to leave Afghanistan;
17. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund froze aid and Afghan accounts, while the Biden Administration sent millions to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan;
18. All Afghan evacuation flights were halted after a measles outbreak in U.S.-run refugee camps;
19. The Taliban brought back executions and strict punishments, including amputations and beheadings, most recently exemplified by hanging a dead body by a crane in Herat;
20. The Biden Administration has not yet publicly objected to the recognition of the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
Read the letter to Chairwoman Maloney and Subcommittee Chairman Lynch here.
