Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday faced bipartisan criticism over the failed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, while a Senate Republican questioned whether President Biden is really firing on the White House.
Blinken’s second consecutive day of grilling by Capitol Hill lawmakers even saw the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee exploit last month’s humiliating exit (which included the murders of 13 members of the Senate). American service) as “defective and clear.”
Also during Tuesday’s view:
- Blinken admitted that officials were still investigating whether a drone strike against an alleged ISIS-K terrorist accidentally killed an Afghan humanitarian worker and nine family members, including seven children.
- Blinken tried to minimize the number of bride children that Afghan refugees brought to the US.
- Blinken’s claim that no one expected Kabul to fall before the U.S. military left was countered by months of intelligence warnings that the situation in Afghanistan “would hit the fan.”
Blinken received repeated successes from members of the governing committee, including Senator James Risch of Idaho, who criticized the withdrawal as a “sad failure.”
“There aren’t enough lipsticks in the world to put on this pig to make it look different than it actually is,” he said.
Risch also demanded to know who in the White House was in charge of ending official coverage of Biden’s appearances, as happened Monday in a half-sentence during a meeting in Boise, Idaho, about the wildfires that plagued the country. the western United States.
When Blinken said Biden “speaks very clearly and very deliberately for himself,” Risch asked, “Well, are you saying there’s no one in the White House who can cut him?”
“Because this happened yesterday, and it has happened several times before. It has been widely reported, ”Risch said.
“Someone has the ability to press the button and cut the sound and prevent him from speaking. Who is this person? “
Risch added: “If you want, this is an act of puppeteers, and we need to know who commands and who makes the decisions.”
But unlike Blinken’s appearance before the House Foreign Relations Committee on Monday, when most Democrats blamed the Afghan chaos of former President Donald Trump’s peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, some key Senate Democrats excoriated the Biden administration for its failures.
“The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed,” said President Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
“This committee hopes to receive a full explanation of this administration’s decisions on Afghanistan since it took office last January.”
Menendez, who is one of the few Democratic hawks, added, “There must be accountability.”
Other Democrats who were tough on Blinken and President Biden included Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.
Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Pressured Blinken over who died exactly in the August 29 U.S. drone strike that followed the deadly ISIS-K suicide bombing in front of the airport. international Hamid Karzai of Kabul three days earlier.
When Blinken said it wasn’t clear yet, Paul asked, “So you don’t know or you don’t want to tell us?”
“No, I don’t know, because we’re reviewing it,” Blinken replied.
Paul replied, “You think you’d know before you go out with someone with a Predator drone if he’s an aide or ISIS-K.”
“And the thing is, there’s a setback,” Paul said.
“I mean, I don’t know if it’s true, but I see these photos of these beautiful children who died in the attack. If this is true, and not propaganda, if it is true, guess what? Maybe you’ve created hundreds or thousands of potential new terrorists by bombing the wrong people. “
The New York Times has reported that the retaliatory attack by the August 26 U.S. personnel killings and dozens of Afghans accidentally drove a vehicle driven by Zemari Ahmadi and carrying nine members of his family.
Ahmadi reportedly worked as a technical engineer for the International Foundation for Nutrition and Education in Pasadena, California, which had applied for refugee status on his behalf.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked Blinken how many Afghan children now housed at U.S. military bases or at transit points abroad were sexually abused by older men who had been evacuated , and cited reports of the presence of child brides in America.
Blinken said all people involved in the resettlement effort, both in the United States and abroad, have exercised “extreme vigilance to deal with any case or concern.”
When pressured by the actual number of such cases, Blinken said there was only “a handful,” but said he could not provide any accounts.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Told Blinken that “the most worrying thing” he had said in his initial statement was the statement that “even the most pessimistic assessment did not predict that Kabul’s government forces ‘collapsed while American forces stayed.’
“You know, for much of last year I was acting President of Intelligence and now I am the Vice President of Intelligence. I followed him very closely, “he said.
“Just going back to earlier this year (obviously I can’t cite the titles of the pieces), but let me just say there are numerous pieces that could be classified as ‘I was going to touch the fan.'”
Rubio added: “I think any analysis of these pieces would have led everyone to that conclusion.”
Rubio also warned that “China, Russia and Iran, consider this wrong withdrawal and what they see as an incompetence that they believe could explode.”
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) Told Blinken that “there must be responsibilities,” adding, “My office and other congressional offices have heard rumors of possible cabinet resignations over the situation in the U.S. ‘Afghanistan’.
“So I want to ask you, have you filed your waiver on this issue?” Hagerty asked.
Blinken replied, “I don’t have it.”