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Issa on Afghanistan Withdrawal: It's Past Time for Congress to Act

August 16, 2023

"Two years ago, the Biden Administration pursued its catastrophic surrender and withdrawal from Afghanistan. This reckless and unsupported action was the President’s choice alone, and it led directly to the worst loss of life in Afghanistan since 2011, taking the lives of 13 of our brave servicemembers. He also abandoned hundreds of Americans in the country after promising he wouldn’t and stated only a few remained behind. This was a lie.

"For two years, this President has insisted that his deadly and desperate exit from Afghanistan was mistake-free and could not have been handled better.
 
"For two years, the White House press secretary’s statement that the surrender in Afghanistan cannot be called 'anything but a success' has not been amended or clarified.
 
"For two years, Secretary of State Blinken has also insisted that his department’s unprecedented failures in Afghanistan represent a ‘success’, while he has refused every effort to allow the American people to read the documented evidence of this Administration’s disaster in Kabul.
 
"Two years is a long time for the official record of this catastrophe to be marred with clear falsehoods and outright lies. It is long enough.
 
"Now is the time for Congress to undertake its obligation to conduct oversight and get the truth that has been denied the American people – especially the Gold Star families of the fallen in Afghanistan. They deserve the truth. We will not stop until our work is completed."