Members of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a resolution formally censuring President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and 13 other administration officials over the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.
The House voted 219-194. Solution He criticized key officials in the Harris-Biden administration involved in the decision to withdraw, accusing them of “undermining America's national security and international standing.”
Ten Democrats and 209 Republicans approved the resolution.
“We can't bring back those lives,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on the floor as he read out the names of the 13 service members killed in a 2021 ISIS-K suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.
McCaul introduced the resolution earlier this month, seeking to hold key decision makers on the withdrawal to “accountability.”
His resolution also criticized 15 key officials for “failing to plan for foreseeable contingencies,” “leaving checkpoints around the airport to the Taliban,” and leaving “approximately 1,000 Americans” behind.
In addition to Biden and Harris, the resolution condemned Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price and former Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad.
Other officials targeted in the resolution include Vice National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer, White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood Randall, former Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon, former U.S. Embassy in Kabul Ross Wilson, chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense Derek Cholette, and former Under Secretary of Defense for Defense Policy Colin Kahl.
The resolution came just one day after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution holding Secretary of State Blinken in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify at a committee hearing on Tuesday.
For contempt charges to be brought, the entire House would need to support a contempt bill, and from there the decision on whether to bring charges would rest with the Harris-Biden Department of Justice.
McCaul's committee released a scathing report earlier this month concluding that Biden was intent on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, ignoring the advice of allies and the Afghan government, after more than two decades of U.S.-led presence there.
The House voted on a resolution censuring the administration along with other measures, including temporary steps to prevent a government shutdown, before a scheduled recess on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Congress posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest honor, to 13 fallen service members, honoring them in a ceremony with Gold Star families in the Capitol Rotunda.
Defenders of Biden and Harris are seeking to pin the blame for the deadly withdrawal on former President Donald Trump, who led the Doha agreement negotiations with the Taliban and created a framework under which the fundamentalists could withdraw if they met their conditions.
During a presidential debate earlier this month, Harris supported Biden's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, despite the controversy and military deaths.
“Four presidents have said they would, and Joe Biden did,” the vice president argued, “and the result is that American taxpayers are not paying $300 million a day to pay for that endless war.”
