Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday to address the Biden administration’s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than three years after the event.
The hearing follows a Republican-led report released months earlier, which criticized President Biden for prioritizing the withdrawal without adequate planning, contributing to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and leaving an estimated 100,000 Afghan allies behind.
Blinken had previously missed an earlier hearing, citing obligations to the United Nations General Assembly.
In response, the GOP-led committee pursued holding him in contempt of a subpoena to testify. However, late last month, committee chair Rep. Michael McCaul announced Blinken’s agreement to appear.
