(PatriotWise.com) — House Republicans have threatened Secretary of State Antony Blinken with contempt of Congress if he fails to turn over a diplomatic cable related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul wrote to Blinken on May 5th, saying his response to a subpoena calling for a document known as the “dissent channel cable” was insufficient.
The letter stated that if Secretary Blinken does not provide the document, the Committee is prepared to hold him in contempt of Congress and file civil enforcement proceedings.
The State Department said it has provided the Committee with a summary of the cable, while spokesman Vedant Patel called the threat “unnecessary and unproductive.”
The “dissent channel” is a structure that allows US diplomats to criticize American policy, and the State Department argued that if it provided the cable in full, diplomats would no longer trust the process.
The cable in question reportedly warned the US government about the potential for a Taliban takeover and the fall of the capital city of Kabul.
Republicans said exposing the truth about the Afghan withdrawal was a campaign promise they intend to keep.
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is largely viewed as chaotic. President Trump had negotiated a date to end the American mission there. However, as the US prepared to leave, Taliban forces quickly overpowered the Afghan army and took control. The United States then scrambled to organize speedy airlifts out of the country for American citizens and those who had assisted US efforts over the preceding two decades.
Former President Trump called the American exit one of the greatest embarrassments in US history. “It’s a great thing that we’re getting out, but nobody has ever handled a withdrawal worse than Joe Biden,” he said.
Trump also argued that America should never have entered Afghanistan and that the US response to the terror attacks of 9/11 should have been limited to airstrikes.
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