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Rep. Loudermilk Reacts to Biden State Department Burying Damning Report on Afghanistan Withdrawal Ahead of Holiday Weekend
Washington,
June 30, 2023
USA Today The Biden and Trump administrations did not sufficiently plan for "worst-case scenarios" ahead of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in summer 2021, according to a State Department review released Friday. The report offered strong criticism of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the rapid fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan government. The State Department should enhance its crisis planning, clarify its leadership structure during crises, and "ensure that senior officials hear the broadest possible range of views," according to the report's recommendations. . . . But the decision to release the State Department's report on a Friday afternoon before a long July 4 holiday weekend, suggested that it hoped the report would avoid the media's spotlight. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., wrote in a tweet that "the State Department is trying to bury the scathing after-action report criticizing the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan." "If the President is so proud of his withdrawal and 'airlift' then why do they keep burying reports before major holiday weekends?" Loudermilk added. After an address about the Supreme Court’s decision to end his signature debt relief program, Biden defended the withdrawal from Afghanistan by noting that al-Qaeda did not resurface in the country. "I was right," Biden said before leaving. READ MORE |