Oversight Republicans demand info from White House on 'botched Afghanistan withdrawal'

Top Republican members of the House Oversight Committee this week are demanding the Biden administration share information related to the tumultuous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan that the White House executed in mid-2021. 

Multiple Republicans on Oversight announced on Friday that they were writing to multiple U.S. agencies "requesting all documents, communications, and information related to the Biden Administration’s disastrous military and diplomatic withdrawal from Afghanistan."

The administration's much-criticized withdrawal included an attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport Kabul that saw the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers, a tragedy for which the Biden administration was pilloried by critics. 

"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," Committee Chair Rep. James Comer said in the announcement.

"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," Comer continued, adding: "The American people deserve answers and the Biden Administration’s ongoing obstruction of this investigation is unacceptable."

Among the agencies queried by the Republicans include the Department of National Security Affairs, the Department of Defense, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. 

Among the requested documents from each agency include "all records, documents, and communications from January 20, 2021, to present referring or related to contingency planning for the Afghanistan withdrawal and evacuation."