On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) stated that the dissent cable sent by U.S. diplomats in 2021 before the withdrawal from Afghanistan that he was finally able to view after a long dispute with the Biden administration “got the scenario right” but the Biden administration ignored the “dire warnings” and the advice in the cable on how to avoid a disaster.
McCaul said, “I can tell you my impressions, and that is that the embassy officials got the scenario right. They were warning the administration about a dire — dire warnings about what was getting ready to happen in Afghanistan if certain actions were not taken. Sadly, I don’t think the administration really listened to what they were saying, and it ended in this disastrous evacuation that we saw in mid-October and it crescendoed with a suicide bomber going off, killing 13 servicemen and women and about 170 Afghans. Turning it over to the Taliban was a major mistake.”
He continued, “I will tell you that the embassy employees deserve a medal for sending this dissent cable to the administration, not only warning them, but telling them what to do to avoid this situation and also to save American citizens left behind, Afghan partners left behind, the interpreters, many of which were, as you know. And we left American citizens. We left most of our Afghan partners behind and the Taliban are now hunting them down with the biometrics that we left behind, as well, a disastrous result. I think the administration is embarrassed by this, obviously.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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