US House Foreign Affairs chairman subpoenas Blinken to testify on America’s exit from Afghanistan

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul has issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, demanding that he testify on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

The subpoena, announced Tuesday, requires Blinken to appear before the committee on Sept. 19 or face contempt charges.

"The Committee is holding this hearing because the Department of State was central to the Afghanistan withdrawal and served as the senior authority during the August non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO)," McCaul wrote in a letter to Blinken.

"As Secretary of State throughout the withdrawal and NEO, you were entrusted to lead these efforts and to secure the safe evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies...You are therefore in a position to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal, including potential reforms to the Department’s legislative authorization."

McCaul's move follows a prolonged standoff between the committee and the State Department over access to documents related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Republicans have criticized as chaotic and mishandled.

The State Department released its Afghanistan report on June 30 that blamed both the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021.

"The decisions of both President Trump and President Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security," said the unclassified report, Afghanistan After Action Review (AAR).

"Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the AAR team found that during both administrations, there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow," it added.