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Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul and other House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans sent a letter to President Joe Biden condemning his rejection of the accounts of the servicemembers interviewed for the Department of Defense’s Abbey Gate investigation and after-action report on the Afghanistan withdrawal released via FOIA request this month. 

The letter was signed by:

Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) 

“The recent dismissal by both yourself and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki of the first-hand accounts and interviews which informed the Department of Defense’s Abbey Gate investigation and After-Action reports is appalling,” the lawmakers wrote. “These soldiers, sailors, and Marines did everything humanly possible to carry out their mission despite the impossible situation your administration’s miscalculations and strategic blunders placed them in. We therefore find your efforts to denigrate and downplay their sworn statements regarding the lack of urgency and adequate planning they witnessed firsthand particularly shameful.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below. 

Dear President Biden,

The recent dismissal by both yourself and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki of the first- hand accounts and interviews which informed the Department of Defense’s Abbey Gate investigation and After-Action reports is appalling. These soldiers, sailors, and Marines did everything humanly possible to carry out their mission despite the impossible situation your administration’s miscalculations and strategic blunders placed them in. We therefore find your efforts to denigrate and downplay their sworn statements regarding the lack of urgency and adequate planning they witnessed firsthand particularly shameful.

These interviews make it abundantly clear that, despite your attempts to deny it, your administration failed to take the necessary steps to effectively prepare for the withdrawal or to realistically respond to the Taliban’s lightning-fast advance across Afghanistan. As such, the American people deserve to know why your White House has rejected these firsthand accounts and asserted that no official After-Action Report on the withdrawal exists, as Mrs. Psaki reiterated on February 11th.

The American public also deserves to see a clear accounting of every step that was taken by your administration to plan for the fall out of your decision to withdraw from Afghanistan on August 31st, 2021. The American people, especially those servicemembers that suffered through the events in August whose accounts you’ve denied, do not deserve the utter lack of accountability from your administration for what took place.

Further contributing to the appearance that your administration is attempting to bury your

failures in Afghanistan is the lack of responsiveness from your appointees at both the State Department and the National Security Council. We have sent an array of letters requesting information on the Afghanistan withdrawal. Though the letters have specific and detailed questions, they have either received a standardized response that does not address a single individual question posed or have received no answer at all. The refusal to provide information to Congress, which has a constitutionally mandated oversight responsibility, is deeply concerning.

In light of these attempts by your administration to deny, obscure, or disregard the facts surrounding the withdrawal and chaotic evacuation, we urge you to be forthright with both the American people and Congress by answering the questions that have long been ignored. We urge you to take direct responsibility for the chaos surrounding the withdrawal from Afghanistan instead of ignoring the firsthand accounts of the brave men and women who served there. Your upcoming State of the Union provides an opportunity to talk directly to Congress and the American people; you should seize it.

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