Antony Blinken, the United States Secretary of State agreed to appear before a congressional panel next week. However, the panel is examining the chaotic military evacuation of the U.S. from Afghanistan at the end of the twenty-year-long war. Some Democrats and opposition Republican representatives criticized the Biden handling of the removal of troops, Americans, and thousands of Afghans who worked for United States forces as advisers and interpreters during the war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has agreed to testify next week before a congressional panel examining the country’s chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of its two-decade war, the longest in U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/BL48uNYjMj
— Srbija Evropa (@srbija_eu) September 8, 2021
The criticism especially increased after thirteen American service members died in a suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport in the last days of evacuation. Moreover, the Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. Secretary of State agreed to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next Tuesday, though other congressional committees may investigate the withdrawal also.
The official evacuation process ended more than a week ago on 30th August, but around a hundred Americans remain in Afghanistan, with American officials promising to help them save evacuation from Afghanistan if they want to withdraw. Several Afghans are also seeking to fly to the U.S. or other nations to escape life under the Taliban who captured the country.
Blinken to Face Tough Question while Testifying Before Congressional Committee
National polls of United States voters reveal extensive support for the decision of the U.S. president’s decision to end the war in Afghanistan, but not the way the evacuation unfolded. Blinken is likely to face harsh questions about why the United States didn’t start evacuating U.S. nationals sooner, especially since President Joe Biden announced his attention in April to honor former U.S. President Donald Trump’s pact with the Taliban insurgents to end the war and pull out American and allied forces.
Source: Web
Representatives also slammed United States intelligence-gathering for failing to predict the Taliban’s immediate seizure of Afghanistan and the collapse of the Afghan government, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani instantly escaping to political asylum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Republican leaders say that they want to focus their interrogation on the performance of Biden in the last days and weeks of the war, while Democratic leaders are hoping to examine the whole of the U.S. war effort that fought under four American presidents such as George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Biden.
Former President Bush started the war in late 2001 to eliminate al-Qaida terrorist training grounds where the 11th September attacks against the United States were planned. Approximately three thousand people were killed in attacks in the United States using hijacked American passenger airliners. Moreover, the twentieth anniversary of the deadly attacks is on coming Saturday. Biden called the evacuation an extraordinary success for his administration and defended his decision to end the American war in Afghanistan. He argued that he wouldn’t pass on the war responsibility for managing American military involvement there on a fifth American president.
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