Credit: Politico
Secretary of State Antony Blinken Shows no signs of complying with the deadline for a congressional subpoena to supply documents relating to President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, subpoenaed the State Department to supply a dissent cable from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. This document would have contained any concerns about Biden’s withdrawal plans from officials on the ground in Afghanistan.
The State Department freed to give McCauk and other lawmakers a briefing on the document but has refused to provide the document itself.
“If [Blinken] doesn’t comply with the subpoena, then it takes it into litigation,” McCaul told Punchbowl News on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I think they’re trying to stonewall this until the end of this Congress.”
The State Department’s refusal to comply with the subpoena comes just as the House Oversight Committee will begin its own set of hearings on the Afghanistan withdrawal on Wednesday.
Blinken said at a hearing in March that the State Department wouldn’t release the dissent cable. He argued that doing so would risk the authenticity of future cables.
“It is vital to me that we preserve the integrity of that process and of that channel, that we not take any steps that could have a chilling effect on the willingness of others to come forward in the future, to express dissenting views on the policies that are being pursued,” Blinken testified at the time.
McCaul said he has countered with offers to only view the document in a classified setting, but they have not agreed to do so.
“Why are they so adamant about not providing these cables even in a classified setting, which I agreed to do?” McCaul asked after filing the subpoena in March. “That raises my suspicion.”
On Wednesday, the special inspector general charged with oversight of U.S. taxpayer aid to Afghanistan called out the Biden admin for an “unprecedented” lack of cooperation with his watchdog office.
Fox News reported:
John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), called on lawmakers to end “obfuscation and delay” by the State Department in turning over information that would allow him to conduct full oversight over the more than $8 billion in U.S. funding made available to the Afghan people since President Biden withdrew military forces from the country in 2021.
In testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Sopko warned that the Taliban is likely pilfering funds meant to assist the people of Afghanistan. That money includes $2 billion, about 60% of which is food aid, as well as funds for health care, agriculture, civil society, and human rights.
“I would just say I haven’t seen a starving Taliban fighter on TV. They all seem to be fat, dumb and happy. I see a lot of starving Afghan children on TV. So, I’m wondering where all this funding is going,” Sopko said.
In his opening remarks, Sopko told lawmakers he could not guarantee that American taxpayer dollars are not funding the Taliban. “Nor can I assure you that the Taliban are not diverting the money we are sending from the intended recipients, which are the poor Afghan people,” he said.
