House Oversight gives details on how it will investigate Biden admin's 'Afghanistan catastrophe'

The House Oversight Committee on Friday outlined its plans to investigate the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 in which 13 service members were killed in a terror attack and billions of dollars worth of equipment was left behind for the Taliban.

Committee Chairman James Comer said the investigation will be spread across multiple subcommittee, whose leaders in preparation are "requesting all documents, communications, and information related to the Biden Administration’s disastrous military and diplomatic withdrawal."

Comer also said in a statement on the matter that Republicans on the Oversight committee, of which the GOP is now in control, have since August 2021 sought information into the "Afghanistan catastrophe."

The Kentucky Republican also said the administration "continues to obstruct congressional oversight as well as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction."

The Trump administration initiated the U.S. military getting all of its troop out of Afghanistan – after having gone there to wage a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed on U.S. soil.

The Biden administration in its attempt to complete the withdrawal struggled with a chaotic final days in which those trying to flee Taliban control overwhelmed the Kabul-area airport, with some clinging to airplane landing gear in a desperate effort to escape. On August 26, two suicide bombers and a gunman at the airport killed the 13 service members. 

“The Biden Administration was tragically unprepared for the Afghanistan withdrawal and their decisions in the region directly resulted in a national security and humanitarian catastrophe," Comer also said in the statement. "U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, Americans were abandoned, taxpayer dollars are unaccounted for, the Taliban gained access to military equipment, progress for Afghan women was derailed, and the entire area is now under hostile Taliban control." 

Among those receiving letter requests for documents and other withdrawal-related materials were Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

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