Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has requested that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testify at a hearing on the Biden administration's efforts to safely evacuate Americans and vulnerable civilians from Afghanistan.
"The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly changing and it is imperative that the administration provide the American people and Congress transparency about its Afghanistan strategy," Meeks said in a statement Tuesday.
"I have asked Secretaries Blinken and Austin to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and tell Congress what the administration’s plan is to safely evacuate American citizens, SIVs, and other vulnerable Afghans from the country, and to understand our broader counter terrorism strategy in South Asia following the collapse of the Ghani government," he continued.
Meeks is the first panel chair to officially ask Biden administration officials to testify on the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden, during a Monday speech, doubled down on his decision to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the region but did concede that "this did unfold more quickly than we anticipated."
However, the president also shifted blame to former President Donald Trump and Afghan officials.
"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves," Biden said.
He also emphasized that the U.S. will continue to advocate for the human rights of civilians in Afghanistan.