The House Foreign Affairs Committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday over his refusal to provide testimony related to the Harris-Biden administrations disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The committee, led by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), has given Blinken a Sept. 19 deadline to answer questions before the panel or face being held in contempt of Congress.
As Secretary of State throughout the withdrawal and [non-combatant evacuation operation], you were entrusted to lead these efforts and to secure the safe evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies, McCaul wrote in a letter to the Harris-Biden administration official, explaining why his testimony is of great importance to House investigators. 5 Secretary of State Antony Blinken was subpoenaed for refusing to provide testimony about the Harris-Biden administrations withdrawal from Afghanistan. Getty Images 5 A ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the airport in Kabul amid the pandemonium of the disorderly evacuations. AP
In testimony before the Committee, current and former State Department officials have confirmed that you served as the final decisionmaker for the Department on the withdrawal and evacuation, the Texas Republican added. You are therefore in a position to inform the Committees consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal, including potential reforms to the Departments legislative authorization.
McCaul has pushed for Blinken to voluntarily come before the panel since May.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller defended Blinkens refusal to testify, arguing that the Cabinet official has appeared more than a dozen times before Congress and is unavailable to come in on the dates suggested by the committee.
This includes four times directly before Chairman McCauls Committee, including a previous hearing that focused exclusively on Afghanistan, all while the Department has provided the Committee with nearly 20,000 pages of Department records, multiple high-level briefings, and engaged on transcribed interviews on nearly 15 current and former State Department officials with the Committee, Miller wrote in a statement to The Hill.
It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the Department in good faith, the Committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena, he added. 5 Afghans struggle to reach the foreign forces to show their credentials to flee the country outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021. EPA
McCaul previously threatened to hold Blinken in contempt in February, after the State Department refused to turn over subpoenaed documents related to the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The State Department produced the documents the following month.
The congressman also warned of contempt proceedings last year, when Blinken withheld a dissent cable from the committee that reportedly showed diplomats had warned of the risks of the US troop withdrawal from the Middle Eastern nation.
McCaul paused that contempt effort in May 2023 after the State Department agreed to let the Republican chairman and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY) see the cable in camera with the names of the officials who authored the messages redacted. 5 This combination of photos released by the 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton/U.S. Department of Defense shows twelve service members killed in the Kabul airport bombing in Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021. AP 5 Flag-draped transfer cases of U.S. military service members who were killed by an August 26 suicide bombing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport line the inside of a C-17 Globemaster II prior to a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware on August 29, 2021. VIA REUTERS
The State Department eventually granted all committee members access to the cable.
The committees subpoena comes the week after the three-year anniversary of the US exit from Afghanistan, which left thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies stranded in the country that was quickly retaken by the Taliban.
Thirteen US service members at least 170 Afghans were also killed when a ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the airport in Kabul amid the pandemonium of the disorderly evacuations.
McCaul revealed last week that he intends to release the findings of his committees three-year-long investigation into the Harris-Biden withdrawal on Sept. 9.
