The chair of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee has threatened to carry Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t flip over a categorised cable reportedly warning that Kabul might collapse quickly after the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The letter escalates a monthslong standoff between the Home committee and the Biden administration, which has thus far been unwilling to show over the doc to Congress. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Monday launched a Might 5 letter demanding the Division present Congress with an unredacted model of the July 13, 2021, cable and the State Division’s official response.
McCaul threatened Blinken with contempt of Congress and a potential civil enforcement continuing if he doesn’t adjust to the committee’s request by 6 p.m. on Might 11 or present a authorized foundation for withholding the doc.
“The dissent cable and official response are essential and materials to the Committee’s investigation into the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal,” McCaul wrote in his letter.
State Division staff can use the “dissent channel” to speak dissenting international coverage views with senior officers. A Wall Avenue Journal article mentioned the cable warned that the Taliban might seize management of Kabul quickly after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
In late March, the committee issued a subpoena to Blinken over the cable. On April 27, the State Division gave the committee a briefing on the cable’s contents and its official response. The division additionally supplied Congress with a one-page abstract of the dissent cable in addition to with a abstract of the official response that got here in at just below one web page, in line with McCaul’s letter. The letter provides that the precise cable is 4 pages lengthy.
“It’s inherently problematic for the Division, which is the topic of the Committee’s investigation, to be permitted to withhold key materials proof and substitute its personal abbreviated characterizations of that proof for the unique paperwork,” McCaul wrote in his letter.
He claimed that the State Division officers who led the briefing have been “unwilling or unable” to reply a number of of the committee’s questions on the subject.
In an announcement, a State Division spokesperson mentioned the committee’s actions have been “pointless and unproductive,” because the panel had acquired a categorised briefing and abstract of the cable.
“We are going to proceed to answer applicable oversight inquiries and supply Congress the knowledge it must do its job whereas defending the flexibility of State Division staff to do theirs,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The administration has beforehand expressed considerations that releasing the cable might compromise the identification of the cable’s signatories.
The cable is one a part of McCaul’s investigation into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which noticed 13 U.S. service members killed at Kabul’s airport. Final month, the Biden administration launched a abstract of its evaluation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, largely faulting the Trump administration for the chaos that unfolded.