Washington, DC – Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) and Congressman Brian Mast (FL-21) issued the following statement as the Biden State Department continues to defy a Congressional subpoena and refuse to provide a report proving that the Biden Administration ignored warnings that its Afghanistan policy was an impending disaster. Rep. Issa is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability on which Rep. Mast serves as Chairman.
“While it is common knowledge that the Biden Administration – specifically its State Department – long ago “turned the page” on its disaster in Afghanistan, the country and the Congress have not. The American people and their representatives deserve answers as to how and why so many in this Administration got this so wrong and in so many catastrophic ways.
“The issue at hand is the document known as a “Dissent Channel” cable, which was written by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan in 2021. We know that this document describes in real-time detail that the Biden State Department was warned its Afghanistan policy was untenable.
“We further know that the Biden Administration did next to nothing in response as our position in Afghanistan collapsed, billions worth of American equipment was abandoned, and 13 of our brave soldiers were killed in the chaos that inevitably followed.
“That's why the State Department is defying a valid Congressional subpoena and not allowing all the Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to read the dissent cable.
“It is easy to understand why the entire Biden Administration has been covering up this information. But our response is simple: The cover-up is over.
“To the veterans of our Afghanistan mission and their families who sacrificed beyond measure, and the Americans that President Biden abandoned after promising he wouldn’t, State’s denial is a refusal to acknowledge the truth and a cowardly attempt to sidestep responsibility.
“Enough is enough. The Administration must comply with a Congressional subpoena. And the American people must finally know the full measure of President’s catastrophic failure and the truth of what happened.”
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Darrell Issa is the Representative of California’s 48th Congressional District. The District encompasses the central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County, including the communities of Fallbrook, Valley Center, Ramona, Escondido, Santee, Lakeside, Poway, Temecula, Murrieta, and the mountain and desert areas of the San Diego-Imperial County line. Issa served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2011-2015.
Issues: Foreign Affairs Oversight and Accountability Veterans and the Military
Original source can be found here.
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