Following last week’s call by NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty for Antony Blinken to resign as Secretary of State, 23 Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday condemned the State Department’s entire leadership team for the Biden administration’s devastating failure in withdrawing from the war in Afghanistan. A letter — led by the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas — takes Blinken to task for “dereliction of duty” regarding the mission to evacuate Americans still in Afghanistan and to protect their safety. From the Congress members’ letter:
Under your direction, contingency planning by the State Department has been woefully inadequate, and now we are seeing the tragic results: Thousands of Americans are fearing for their lives across the country; the Taliban’s triumph is being broadcast across the world; a refugee crisis is growing; a new safe haven for terrorists is emerging; thousands of Afghans who helped our efforts over the course of 20 years are now in mortal danger; and the Taliban has taken possession of American weapons caches, vehicles, and air assets. The security and humanitarian disaster unfolding was avoidable, and it was caused in large part by the acts, omissions, and delays from the State Department which you lead.
The missive goes into great detail about what Blinken and the State Department could and should have done to effect an orderly and safe withdrawal. NLPC warned the U.S. Senate about Blinken when he was nominated as Secretary of State, especially regarding his ties to the communist Chinese and their millions of dollars of contributions to the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, where he was managing director. The Senate confirmed him anyway and now his weakness is on display before the entire world.
