By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE
House Oversight Republicans pledged to use their newfound majority to hold President Joe Biden “accountable” for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year.
That withdrawal, the subject of much controversy, left 13 U.S. service members dead, billions of dollars of military equipment behind, and plunged Afghanistan into chaos as the Taliban quickly took power.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., was selected to chair the Oversight Committee and pledged in his acceptance to dig into what went wrong in Afghanistan and who is responsible. That investigation is one of several piquing Republicans’ interest as they lead the House for the next two years.
“The destructive path paved by the Biden Administration ends when Republicans have the gavel in January,” he said. “We will continue our investigations into the national security threat posed by the Biden family’s influence peddling and shady business schemes, President Biden’s border crisis, COVID origins and U.S. taxpayer dollars used to fund dangerous research in Wuhan, the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, President Biden’s energy crisis, waste and mismanagement of pandemic relief funds, and more.”
Comer did not waste time on the Afghanistan front. The same day as his chairmanship announcement, he sent a letter to several Biden administration officials demanding relevant documents, information and communications.
“It has been over a year since the Biden Administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal and the American people have not received any answers about this national security and humanitarian catastrophe. U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, thousands of Americans were abandoned, billions of taxpayer dollars are still unaccounted for, military equipment fell into the hands of the Taliban, progress for Afghan women has stalled, and the entire region is under hostile Taliban control,” Comer said. “Under a Republican majority, the Biden Administration’s obstruction of this investigation will be met with the power of the gavel. We owe it to the American people to provide answers, transparency, and accountability.”
Recently released Gallup polling shows that Afghanis report a spike in suffering since the U.S. withdrawal. As The Center Square previously reported, Gallup released polling data of Afghanis earlier this month, which found that 98% of surveyed Afghanis “rate their life so poorly that they are considered suffering” while a quarter say their life right now is “the worst possible.” The poll also found that 39% say they expect their life in five years will be “the worst possible.”
“Between 2021 and 2022, the percentage of Afghans who have been unable to afford food they and their families need shot up 11 points to 86%,” Gallup said. “This is not only a new record high for Afghanistan, but it also statistically ties the world record for any country over the past 16 years (87% set by the Central African Republic in 2010).”
Critics have blasted Biden for Afghanistan as well as Ukraine, saying sending such large sums overseas without enough oversight is a recipe for disaster.
“Supporting our allies doesn’t mean blindly sending tens of billions of dollars with ZERO accountability,” U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., a veteran, wrote on Twitter. “Biden’s ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach is exactly how we wound up with the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Casey Harper is a senior reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.
Biden and all his cohorts created nothing short of Treason when he withdrew leaving many American residents without transportation and allowed 12++ military troops to be killed and left all our military hardware to the Taliban.
Wonder if they are gonna investigate the 5000 Taliban Trump helped get released.
Do you know ANY other way of ‘arguing’ than puerile and illogical deflection and whataboutism, RINO?
You won’t answer the question will you, typical.
Some questions aren’t worth the time it takes to answer. But, if it will shut you up, I’ll take a stab at it because I have nothing but time to waste. The answer to your question is no. They won’t.
Yet again spend taxpayers dollars and nobody goes to jail unless you can tie them to the J6 crowd. A feel good moment brought to you by the weak Republicans . Dog and pony show get your tickets.
And 1000s of US citizens left behind.
IIRC there were also large numbers of unvetted potential terrorists that came over during the exodus w/ Mr. Biden’s blessing. The down side is that even were he convicted the damage he’s done can’t be repaired by placing an 80 year old idiot in incarceration. It would be handy though.
Meaningless sabre rattling from the GOP.
Everyone knows they will do nothing, NOTHING, with anything they discover from this investigation.
.
Waste of taxpayer money.
They are too busy negotiating amnesty with Democrats.
The GOP is a failed organization.
They told the voters they would focus on inflation and crime. Jordan et al will gum government up for 2 years and get Democrats votes in the 2024 election
That’s what usually happens. It’s just a political cycle. No need to get one’s panties in a wad.
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