Investigator in probe of US withdrawal from Afghanistan resigns from House committee

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A senior investigator resigned Monday from a Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee probe into the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021.

"I resigned in protest from Chairman (Michael) McCaul’s House Foreign Affairs investigation into the Biden-Harris Admin’s disastrous and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal...Despite my repeated urging, McCaul failed to seek answers on and accountability for the debacle," Jerry Dunleavy said on X, posting his four-page resignation letter.

Dunleavy said he believes the committee’s work has been "important" and the investigation has uncovered evidence further solidifying the fact that the "dangerous decision" by President Joe Biden to pull out all US troops from Afghanistan with no plan for how to deal with the inevitable fallout was a "deadly disaster."

Dunleavy, a former journalist, defined himself as a whistleblower, criticizing the committee as lacking "courage and moral clarity."

"I did not come lightly to this decision to resign and to blow the whistle publicly, but I could not be a part of this sham any longer and my conscience simply will not allow me to be silent — after a year of pushing the Committee to do the right thing and to run a serious investigation that relentlessly searches for the truth, it has become undeniably clear to me that McCaul and his team are unwilling to take even the most basic steps necessary to ensure that President Biden, VP Harris, and all the top Biden-Harris diplomatic and national security and military leaders are made to answer for the horrors which unfolded and continue to unfold in Afghanistan and around the world," he added.

The US presence in Afghanistan, which began in October 2001, came to an end after 20 years with the withdrawal of American troops in 2021. The Biden administration is blamed by Republican lawmakers for the “failed” withdrawal and the chaos at Kabul International Airport.

In January, Republicans on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee requested documents related to the withdrawal from the State Department to begin an investigation into the controversial withdrawal.

In April, the White House released an after-action report on the withdrawal that blamed then-US President Donald Trump’s administration for a “lack of planning.”