Chris Lange, FISM News
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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) will have the opportunity to review a dissent cable from diplomats in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shortly before the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The July 13, 2021 dissent cable details concerns voiced by State Department officials over President Joe Biden’s planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The State Department’s decision on Monday to consent to the review followed months of stonewalling. McCaul threatened to file contempt charges against Secretary Antony Blinken for failing to comply with subpoenas for the document.
Blinken ignored the original subpoena deadline in March. McCaul then moved the deadline to April, but the Secretary again refused to provide the documents. Instead, the State Department provided Congress with a briefing on the cable’s contents. McCaul accepted the briefing but not as a substitute for the document itself, announcing last week that he would introduce the contempt charge on May 24.
“I don’t take this lightly because a Secretary of State’s never been held in contempt by Congress before,” McCaul told Fox News last week. “And I think the secretary realizes that and the gravity. They probably prefer not to go down this route as well. But if they do not comply, we’re prepared to move forward next week with a markup for resolution of contempt.”
McCaul, along with Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, will reportedly see the document in full, with only the names of Department officials redacted, according to Punchbowl News.
The Texas lawmaker declined to stop pursuing enforcement of the subpoena until after he had a chance to see the document for himself.
“I will pause efforts to enforce the Committee’s subpoena pending my review of the documents,” McCaul said after the State Department invited him and Meeks to view the cable. “Please note, however, that the subpoena remains in full force and effect, and the acceptance of this accommodation does not waive any of the Committee’s rights regarding the subpoena.”
Blinken had previously argued that releasing the documents would inhibit candor from State Department employees in future dissent reports who might fear public disclosure.
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The chaotic withdrawal resulted in the deaths of 13 American service members and left tens of thousands of Afghani sources and an estimated 9,000 U.S. citizens stranded, though Blinken originally claimed that number was closer to 100 to 150. It also created a leadership vacuum in Afghanistan that saw the Taliban rise to power and the loss of $7 billion worth of U.S. military equipment left behind that is now in possession of the Islamic terrorist regime.
The U.S. Army determined in February 2022 that Biden was wholly unprepared for the withdrawal. The 1,000-page report included sworn testimony from commanders directly involved in the events who asserted that the President fundamentally misunderstood the situation in Afghanistan and failed to provide adequate guidance to achieve an orderly withdrawal. A March 2023 congressional hearing shed light on the disastrous consequences of the pullout detailed by witnesses who provided emotional first-hand accounts of what they experienced.
House Oversight Republicans vowed to hold President Joe Biden and his administration “accountable” for the botched pullout with their majority in the 118th Congress.