House Foreign Affairs Committee Subpoenas Blinken to Testify About Afghanistan Withdrawal

Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to testify on Sept. 19 about the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The subpoena follows up on a May 22 request by committee’s chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) for Blinken to appear at a Sept. 19 hearing regarding the withdrawal.

“The committee is holding this hearing because the Department of State was central to the Afghanistan withdrawal and served as the senior authority during the August non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO),” McCaul wrote in a Sept. 3 letter. “As Secretary of State throughout the withdrawal and NEO, you were entrusted to lead these efforts and to secure the safe evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies.”

Blinken was the “final decision maker for the Department on the withdrawal and evacuation,” McCaul wrote in his letter, citing current and former State Department officials.

“You are therefore in a position to inform the committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal, including potential reforms to the department’s legislative authorization,” McCaul wrote.

The committee said it intends to release of its report on Sept. 9, following a three-year investigation of the withdrawal.

During an Aug. 19 discussion, McCaul agreed to give Blinken additional time to nail down a hearing date.

The department did not provide a date for a hearing when contacted by the committee over the course of three days, starting on Aug. 26. The department instead requested a phone call on Aug. 30. McCaul, in the letter to Blinken, criticized what he called “the State Department’s failure to confirm a date.”

During the May 22 hearing, Blinken did not commit to appear before the committee in September.

“Mr. Chairman, I’ve appeared before this committee five times, including one time dedicated solely to Afghanistan, but every time taking questions on Afghanistan. That’s more than any of my recent predecessors have done,” Blinken said, adding that they could talk about scheduling a September hearing.

Blinken defended the State Department’s response to the Afghanistan withdrawal and its aftermath during May’s hearing.

“Mr. Chairman, for the Gold Star families, for the president, for me, [and] for everyone involved, we grieve with them—the losses they suffered, including over 20 years in Afghanistan, [and] we honor their sacrifice,” Blinken said.

“One of the ways we do that, of course, is by taking part in oversight, answering questions, [and] giving the American people the answers they deserve. We’ve engaged in very good faith in this.”

Blinken noted that the department facilitated more than a dozen interviews between the committee and former and current administration officials involved in the withdrawal, which occurred after almost 20 years of war in the central Asian country.

The State Department has handed over documents related to the withdrawal to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to the committee.

Last year, the department declined a request by the committee to hand over a dissent channel cable about the withdrawal, citing privacy concerns. The dissent channel allows State Department employees to express policy disagreements or criticism to leadership “in a manner which protects the author from any penalty, reprisal, or recrimination,” according to the department.

McCaul issued a subpoena, and the department allowed him and the committee to view the document.

“Although I cannot discuss the classified information in the cable, I can say the dissenters were right—and the administration should have listened,” McCaul said in a May statement.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.