WASHINGTON: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul announced he received a commitment from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to appear for a hearing on the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden administration.
The hearing will take place Dec. 11,. “After months of good faith efforts that were too often met with stonewalling from the State Department, I’m proud to have secured Secretary Blinken’s appearance before my committee,” McCaul said in a statement. “I trust his testimony will provide some long-overdue accountability and transparency for the American people, our Afghan allies, and our Gold Star families.”
McCaul said the appearance is coming after the committee advanced contempt proceedings against the secretary, reports US media.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has agreed to testify publicly at a House of Representatives committee hearing on the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, the panel said on Tuesday, after a long dispute with the Republican-led committee reports Reuters.
The committee and the State Department have been wrangling over Blinken’s appearance for months. Panel Republicans voted in September to recommend Blinken be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.
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The State Department had contended that the panel was provided with large amounts of information, with Blinken testifying before Congress on Afghanistan more than 14 times and the department providing nearly 20,000 pages of records, multiple high-level briefings and transcribed interviews.
McCaul released a report on Sept. 8 on the committee Republicans’ investigation of the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, blasting Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration for failures surrounding the evacuation.
The issue had become intensely politicized before the presidential election on Nov. 5. In his successful bid for a second term, Republican former President Donald Trump drew criticism for shooting video for his campaign at Arlington National Cemetery where he appeared at a ceremony honoring troops killed in the evacuation.
Trump also sought to pin blame for the withdrawal on Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.
Democrats have insisted some blame for the messy end of the war – less than seven months into Biden’s presidency – should be laid at the feet of Trump, who began the withdrawal process by signing a deal with the Taliban in 2020.
The issue could become even more politicized after Trump returns to the White House on Jan. 20, after he spoke during his campaign of firing those responsible for the pullout from Afghanistan.
