House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer held a hearing Wednesday on the deadly Afghan withdrawal that left 13 American troops dead and many more fellow citizens stranded behind enemy lines.
Comer invited four key Inspectors General to testify about the factors and decisions that led to the deadly collapse as well as the continued risks to U.S. taxpayer dollars going to Afghanistan.
“Americans watched as people so desperate to flee clung to the landing gear of airplanes taking off and fell from the sky when the planes did not stop. Americans watched as parents handed their infants over to U.S. soldiers,” Comer said in his opening statement. “And they watched as billions of dollars of U.S. equipment—trucks, aircraft, weaponry—was just abandoned to the Taliban.”
“Today, the Taliban flag flies over Kabul…This is Joe Biden’s legacy,” Comer added. “The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has consequences that will not go away overnight, despite the Biden Administration’s hope that the American people will forget.”
“Let me be clear, I was in favor of leaving Afghanistan, but it should never have been done like this.”
Today, the Taliban flag flies over Kabul. This is Joe Biden’s legacy.
@RepJamesComer opens hearing with a rebuke of Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. pic.twitter.com/v4BEd4zqhQ— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 19, 2023
According to the February Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report, Biden’s deadly Afghan withdrawal in 2021 left at least $7.2 billion worth of military equipment under Taliban control, including missiles, aircraft, biometric devices, and communications gear.
During the two decades in which the United States tried to democratize the nation, American taxpayers provided the Afghan military with $18.6 billion in equipment, the report found.
Democrats have taken a more defensive posture on the deadly withdrawal that severely impacted President Joe Biden’s approval rating.
Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin (D-MD) demanded a more rounded analysis of the U.S.’s involvement in the war-torn nation. In Raskin’s opening statement, he said Afghanistan oversight “requires looking comprehensively at the dynamics of this massive, decades-long military and nation-building effort — not just the last few months.”
The White House has also remained defensive. When Fox News asked National Security Council spokesman John Kirby if the Biden administration was “proud” of its exit from Afghanistan, Kirby did not shy away from Biden’s record.
“Proud of the fact that new how have about 100,000 Afghans, our former allies and partners, living in this country and working toward citizenship?” Kirby said April 6. “You bet.”