The House Foreign Affairs Committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for refusing to testify about the Harris-Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The committee, led by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), gave Secretary of State Blinken until September 19 to answer the committee's questions or face being held in contempt of Congress.
“Withdrawal and [non-combatant evacuation operation]you have been entrusted with leading these efforts and ensuring the safe evacuation of Americans and our Afghan allies,” McCaul wrote. In a letter He explained to senior Biden administration officials why his testimony was so important to House investigators.
“In testimony before the committee, current and former State Department officials have acknowledged that it was you who served as the Department's final decision maker regarding withdrawals and evacuations,” the Texas Republican added. “You are therefore in a position to provide input to the committee's consideration on possible legislation, reforms to the Department's legislative authority, that could help prevent the disastrous errors of withdrawal.”
McCaul has been calling since May for Blinken to appear before the committee voluntarily.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller defended Blinken's refusal to testify, arguing that the Cabinet member has already appeared before Congress more than 10 times and would not be able to attend the dates proposed by the committee.
“This includes four in-person hearings before Chairman McCaul's committee, including an earlier hearing focused solely on Afghanistan. During that time, the State Department has provided the committee with approximately 20,000 pages of State Department records, multiple senior official briefings, and has worked on transcripts of interviews with the committee and approximately 15 current and former State Department officials,” Miller said in a statement. The Hill.
“It is unfortunate that the committee has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena instead of continuing to negotiate in good faith with the Department,” he added.
Mr McCaul had threatened to sue Mr Blinken in contempt in February after the State Department refused to turn over subpoenaed documents related to the failed withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. The State Department turned over the documents the following month.
The senator also warned of the possibility of a contempt action when Mr Blinken withheld from the committee a “objection cable” last year that purportedly showed diplomats warning about the risks of withdrawing US troops from Middle Eastern countries.
McCaul suspended his contempt action in May 2023 after the State Department agreed to give the Republican chairman and Sen. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) a “private” look at the cables, which redacted the names of the officials who wrote the messages.
The State Department eventually granted all committee members access to the cables.
The committee's subpoenas came a week after three years of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left thousands of Americans and Afghan allies stranded in a country that was quickly recaptured by the Taliban.
In the chaos of the disorderly evacuation, an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated explosives outside Kabul's airport, killing 13 U.S. soldiers and at least 170 Afghans.
McCaul said last week that the committee's three-year investigation into Harris and Biden's withdrawal is scheduled to be released on Sept. 9.
