ROGERS STATEMENT AHEAD OF TOMORROW’S HASC HEARING ON AFGHANISTAN

Sep 28, 2021
Press Release

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal. 
 
“President Biden misled the American people on the situation in Afghanistan. On August 31st, with hundreds of Americans left behind and 13 servicemembers murdered, the President stood in the East Room of the White House and called the withdrawal an ‘extraordinary success.’ This characterization is either purposefully misleading or proof that President Biden is out of touch with what was actually happening.  As we heard today in the Senate, this withdrawal wasn’t an extraordinary success; it was an extraordinary disaster. It will go down in history as one of the greatest failures of American leadership.
 
“Tomorrow, at our hearing Secretary Austin, General Milley, and General McKenzie will need to be ready to give us answers on how we’re going to conduct counter-terrorism operations now that we have zero presence in Afghanistan. According to the latest intelligence assessment, it could be as little as 12 months before Al Qaeda will use Afghanistan as a base to conduct strikes against the United States. The administration’s current over-the-horizon ‘capability’ is a farce – taking out terrorists is only useful when you know where the terrorist is. Without persistent ISR capabilities or reliable intelligence on the ground, that’s impossible.
 
“It’s clear that President Biden decided to just wing it when it came to Afghanistan and his decision to proceed without a plan had deadly consequences. The Biden administration needs to give Congress the plan we’ve demanded for months – our national security cannot be an afterthought.”