House Foreign Affairs Committee Subpoenaed Sec. Of State Antony Blinken Over Afghanistan Withdrawal

Chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to testify in court on September 19 regarding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

“The House Committee on Foreign Affairs (the “Committee”) is investigating the Biden-Harris Administration’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan,” McCaul wrote in a letter to Blinken. “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).”

Blinken played a central role in the withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to McCaul, Blinken was entrusted to “secure the safe evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies” and was a “final decisionmaker” in the Department during the withdrawal. 

McCaul believes that Blinken’s involvement places him in a “position to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal.”

McCaul’s letter states that Blinken has refused previous requests to appear before the Committee, the first of which was made on May 23 of this year. McCaul noted that “In view of the Department’s continued delay and unresponsiveness to the Committee’s repeated requests for a specific hearing date,“ the Committee has now resorted to subpoenaing Blinken, who is set to testify before the Committee in the morning of September 19. 

On Monday, McCaul released a new report outlining what he believes was President Joe Biden’s administration’s failures during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically noting Vice President Kamala Harris’ involvement. 

The report states that the “Biden-Harris administration prioritized the optics of the withdrawal over the security of U.S. personnel on the ground“ and stressed that the administration “misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal.“

McCaul’s report has been criticized for being politicized and misleading. White House spokesperson Sharon Yang stated that the “latest partisan report shows that it is based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and pre-existing biases that have plagued this investigation from the start.”