The @HouseForeign hearing on Afghanistan, featuring @SecBlinken, is getting under way a few minutes late. Blinken joining virtually. I'll be trying to tweet notable moments/statements periodically, in this thread.
.@RepGregoryMeeks says that in the discourse over the Afghanistan withdrawal, "we are seeing domestic politics injected into foreign policy." But then issues a full-throated endorsement of the withdrawal, rather than laying out what issues the hearing seeks to examine.
@RepGregoryMeeks Blinken: "The military placed on standby by President Biden was able to secure the airport and begin evacuation." We've all seen the images of the airport. "Secure" is not one of the first words that come to mind - even if they were able to maintain operational control.
@RepGregoryMeeks Interesting - Blinken praises specific members of Congress (incl several Republicans) efforts to get people out of Kabul, who had to do so b/c of State Department failures.
Blinken: "The interim government named by the Taliban falls very short of the mark that was set by the international community for inclusivity... it includes many key members who have very challenging track records."
Blinken says that an internal State Department dissent cable "did not predict the collapse of the government and security forces before our departure." But it did predict the collapse shortly "soon after" the US left. wsj.com/articles/confi…
On the Afghanistan withdrawal, @RepKinzinger: "it's important to remind that the Trump administration failed in the setup and I think the Biden administration absolutely failed in the execution of this."
.@RepKinzinger - State Dept officials did indeed act heroically, but "they should have never been placed in a situation where they had to act heroically."
@RepKinzinger .@RepKinzinger: Does the US recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan?
@SecBlinken: It is the de facto government of Afghanistan. Those are just the facts.
@SecBlinken: It is the de facto government of Afghanistan. Those are just the facts.
Unless I missed something - which is entirely possible, so please LMK - @Ilhan is the first member of Congress to ask about the reportedly botched drone strike, intended to hit ISIS targets and instead hit an Afghan civilian and children.
.@SecBlinken responds to her: "this is being reviewed “very very carefully by others in the administration so that we understand exactly what happened, or what didn’t happen. No country on earth - no government - takes more effort, more precautions...
... , to try to ensure that anyone other than the intended terrorist target is struck using a drone, or by any other means."
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
