House votes to condemn Biden administration officials over Afghanistan withdrawal
Lawmakers in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives voted to formally condemn President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and 13 other administration officials over the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.
In a 219 to 194 vote, the lower chamber passed a resolution condemning key Harris-Biden administration officials involved with the decision-making behind the withdrawal, rebuking them for “harm to the national security and international stature of the United States.”
Ten Democrats voted with 209 Republicans to approve the resolution.
“Nothing will bring their lives back,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on the floor while reading the names of the 13 service members killed in the ISIS-K suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate in 2021.
McCaul had introduced that resolution earlier this month, seeking to bring about “accountability” for the key decision-makers in the withdrawal.
His resolution further criticized those 15 key officials for failing to “plan for foreseeable contingencies,” relying on “the Taliban to run checkpoints surrounding the airport” and leaving behind “approximately 1,000 Americans.”
In addition to Biden and Harris, the resolution condemned Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, White House national security communications adviser 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 by the resolution were Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer, White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, former Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources in the State Department Brian McKeon, former Chief of Mission to United States Embassy Kabul Ross Wilson, chief of staff to the Defense Secretary Derek Chollet and former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl.
The resolution’s passage comes just one day after the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify during the panel’s hearing Tuesday.
To be held in contempt, the full House will have to back the contempt measure. From there, it would be up to the Harris-Biden Justice Department to decide whether or not to pursue charges.
McCaul’s panel released a blistering report earlier this month, which concluded that Biden had his mind set on departing Afghanistan after more than 20 years of US-led military presence and disregarded the advice of both allies and the Afghan government.
The lower chamber voted on the resolution to condemn the administration among other measures Wednesday, including a stopgap to prevent a government shutdown, before its scheduled break for recess.
Earlier this month, Congress posthumously bestowed its highest honor — the Congressional Gold Medal — upon the 13 fallen service members and honored them in a ceremony with the Gold Star families in the Capitol Rotunda.
Defenders of Biden and Harris have sought to pin the blame for the deadly withdrawal on former President Donald Trump, who presided over the Doha Agreement negotiations with the Taliban, which laid a framework for the exit provided conditions were met by the fundamentalists.
During their presidential debate earlier this month, Harris stood by Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan despite the controversy and deaths of servicemembers.
“Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did,” the veep contended. “And as a result, America’s taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war.”