FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rep. Green’s Remarks on Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal with Secretary Blinken
WASHINGTON—This week, Rep. Mark Green gave the following remarks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The hearing was an assessment of the State Department’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Watch Rep. Green’s remarks here
Rep. Green’s remarks as given:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your leadership on investigating this catastrophic withdrawal. And I want to thank you, Secretary Blinken, for attending today. I’m going to preface with something very similar to what the Chairman prefaced his comments with: we’ve worked well together on nearshoring and stuff like that—getting a Tennessean out of Venezuela. Roger Carson is my classmate and you did a fantastic job with that.
As a Global War on Terror veteran who served in Afghanistan, I want to once again recognize the sacrifice of all Americans that fought for our country in Afghanistan. I lost friends there. But those of you who came home, your service was not in vain. Those of you who died there, your service was not in vain. You helped keep our country safe for two decades, and I am grateful for your sacrifice and for the sacrifices of your families.
As a Nightstalker flight surgeon and an Army Ranger infantry officer, I remember our most sacred creed: leave no man behind. Secretary Blinken, you and our Commander-in-Chief left people behind. You left those in your care behind. You left Americans and our allies behind. Your delayed appearance before this Committee is a disgrace to those Americans who died in Afghanistan. And your decisions, or the absence of leadership, during the withdrawal of 2021 are directly responsible for the disaster. Prior to President Biden’s “Go to Zero” approach, the Taliban had ignored U.S. attempts for a smooth exit and shown themselves totally ignoble negotiators. We knew the dangers. And yet, as the military withdrew, you told U.S. Embassy Kabul to remain.
Furthermore, you actually increased personnel. When senior security advisors and leaders at DOD (Department of Defense), and embassy staff said it was time to make a non-combatant evacuation operation, a NEO (Non-Combatant Evacuation) plan, you said “no.” Instead, when the day came for the embassy to evacuate, there was no plan. You left your personnel high and dry to figure it out on their own. In fact, you never even issued the NEO. As Secretary of State, that is your responsibility, but instead, the NSC had to make that call. Did you step in? No. The NSC continued to lead the initial response––including decision-making regarding Afghan populations eligible for evacuation––which should have been the State [Department]’s responsibility. Because you weren’t at the helm, there was little documentation or communication, State [Department] personnel had to rely on spur-of-the-moment decision-making just to get to the airport, and thousands of evacuees were left in limbo.
I also want to share a conversation I had with the leader of one of our greatest allies, the United Kingdom. I had a conversation with Boris Johnson six to eight months ago. I was at dinner with him, and I asked him, “Hey, could you confirm a rumor, Mr. Prime Minister? Could you confirm the rumor that Commander-in-Chief of the United States Joe Biden, that you called him and asked him if you could stay an extra five days, just five days, so that all the Brits could get out?” And Boris Johnson told me “Chairman Green, I remember exactly where I was when I made the phone call, I asked for five more days, and President Biden told me ‘no.’” This is our greatest ally on the planet—participating in the Red Sea with us against the Houthis when few others would. I’ve pulled wounded British SAS guys off a target in Iraq. Their blood was on my hands. And I’m going to tell you, that relationship is one of our greatest, if not our greatest. And yet, we slapped them in the face and said, “No, you don’t get five extra days to get your people out.” This, according to the Prime Minister of the U.K. at the time. I find that unconscionable.
And senior leaders at DOD have come here and testified, senior leaders at DOD have testified on the HASC (House Armed Services Committee) and told us, “We were telling the State Department four or five months in this drawdown period, ‘get your stuff together!" and they didn’t. Why?
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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://markgreen.house.gov/2024/12/rep-green-s-remarks-on-disastrous-afghanistan-withdrawal-with-secretary-blinken