[House Report 117-480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


117th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session       }                                     {      117-480

======================================================================

 
  REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT, AND DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF STATE, TO 
  TRANSMIT TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COPIES OF ALL DOCUMENTS IN 
THEIR POSSESSION REFERRING OR RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE UNITED 
                   STATES WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

                                _______
                                

 September 20, 2022.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

           Mr. Meeks, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
                        submitted the following

                             ADVERSE REPORT

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                      [To accompany H. Res. 1240]

    The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the 
resolution (H. Res. 1240) requesting the President, and 
directing the Secretary of State, to transmit to the House of 
Representatives copies of all documents in their possession 
referring or relating to certain aspects of the United States 
withdrawal from Afghanistan, having considered the same, report 
unfavorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the 
resolution not be agreed to.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Summary..........................................................     1
Background.......................................................     2
Hearings.........................................................     2
Committee Consideration and Vote.................................     2
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     4
New Budget Authority, Tax Expenditures, and Federal Mandates.....     4
Non-Duplication of Federal Programs..............................     4
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     4
Congressional Accountability Act.................................     4
New Advisory Committees..........................................     4
Earmark Identification...........................................     4
Section-by-Section Analysis......................................     4
Dissenting Views.................................................     5

                                SUMMARY

    H. Res. 1240 requests the President, and directs the 
Secretary of State, to provide the House of Representatives 
with copies of all documents (including all records, 
communications, correspondence (including email), messages 
(including text and instant messages), transcripts, summaries, 
agendas, written agreements, notes, memoranda, diplomatic 
cables, reports, legal opinions, analytical products, briefing 
materials, intelligence assessments, white papers, non-papers, 
meeting readouts, and other materials, regardless of electronic 
or physical format), both classified and unclassified, in the 
possession of the President or the Secretary of State, 
respectively, relating to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

                               BACKGROUND

    The Committee on Foreign Affairs takes very seriously its 
oversight responsibilities and has conducted bipartisan 
oversight of U.S. policy toward Afghanistan. Since the 
withdrawal, the Committee has held approximately 40 different 
engagements for Members and staff to understand the Executive 
Branch's approach and policy decisions related to Afghanistan. 
In addition, the Committee has held approximately fourteen 
Member-level hearings and briefings where Afghanistan was 
discussed, including a June 2022 briefing with five senior 
state department officials, who briefed the Committee for more 
than three hours.
    Unfortunately, this resolution of inquiry (ROI) asks mostly 
for documents from the Biden Administration, rather than a more 
comprehensive request to include the Trump Administration, 
whose agreement with the Taliban committed the United States to 
a full withdrawal from Afghanistan. This ROI amounts to a 
fishing expedition that fails to account for the information 
the Executive Branch has regularly provided to this Committee 
and continues to provide to this Committee and to Congress.
    Congress and the American people stand to benefit from 
understanding the decisions and the events that led to and 
influenced the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, no 
evaluation of the withdrawal is credible unless it also 
includes a comprehensive evaluation of the policies by the 
multiple Administrations of both parties that informed the 
process, and especially a process that fails to account for the 
role that the previous Administration's February 2020 deal with 
the Taliban had on the events that unfolded in August of 2021.
    The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan deserves proper 
oversight that is free from partisanship. This ROI fails to 
meet this basic standard.
    H. Res. 1240 is ultimately an incomplete approach to 
oversight and would distract from the ongoing, bipartisan 
legislative and fact-finding efforts of the Congress.

                                HEARINGS

    The Committee on Foreign Affairs held no hearings on H. 
Res. 1240.

                    COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION AND VOTE

    The Committee considered H. Res. 1240 on September 14, 2022 
and September 15, 2022, and agreed to a motion to report the 
resolution adversely to the House of Representatives by a 
recorded vote (roll call 25Y-23N).
    On the vote to report H. Res. 1240 to the House adversely:

          Members voting AYE (25)
          Gregory W. Meeks, D-NY
          Brad Sherman, D-CA
          Albio Sires, D-NJ
          Gerald E. Connolly, D-VA
          Theodore E. Deutch, D-FL
          Karen Bass, D-CA
          William R. Keating, D-MA
          David N. Cicilline, D-RI
          Ami Bera, D-CA
          Joaquin Castro, D-TX
          Dina Titus, D-NV
          Ted Lieu, D-CA
          Susan Wild, D-PA
          Dean Phillips, D-MN
          Ilhan Omar, D-MN
          Colin Allred, D-TX
          Andy Levin, D-MI
          Abigail Spanberger, D-VA
          Chrissy Houlahan, D-PA
          Tom Malinowski, D-NJ
          Andy Kim, D-NJ
          Jim Costa, D-CA
          Juan Vargas, D-CA
          Vicente Gonzalez, D-TX
          Brad Schneider, D-IL

          Members voting NO (23)
          Kathy Manning, D-NC
          Michael T. McCaul, R-TX
          Chris Smith, R-NJ
          Steve Chabot, R-OH
          Joe Wilson, R-SC
          Scott Perry, R-PA
          Darrell Issa, R-CA
          Lee Zeldin, R-NY
          Ann Wagner, R-MO
          Brian Mast, R-FL
          Brian Fitzpatrick, R-PA
          Ken Buck, R-CO
          Tim Burchett, R-TN
          Mark Green, R-FL
          Andy Barr, R-KY
          Greg Steube, R-FL
          Dan Meuser, R-PA
          Claudia Tenney, R-NY
          August Pfluger, R-TX
          Nicole Malliotakis, R-NY
          Peter Meijer, R-MI
          Ronny Jackson, R-TX
          Young Kim, R-CA

                      COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee reports that the 
findings and recommendations of the Committee, based on 
oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the 
House of Representatives, are incorporated in the descriptive 
portions of this report, particularly in the ``Background'' 
section.

              NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, TAX EXPENDITURES, AND 
                            FEDERAL MANDATES

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of House rule XIII and 
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (P.L. 104-4) are inapplicable 
because H. Res. 1240 neither provides new budget authority nor 
increase tax expenditures.

                  NON-DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of House rule XIII, the 
committee states that no provision of this bill establishes or 
reauthorizes a program of the Federal Government known to be 
duplicative of another Federal program, a program that was 
included in any report from the Government Accountability 
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-
139, or a program related to a program identified in the most 
recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.

                    PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

    The rule requiring a statement of performance goals and 
objectives is inapplicable to this resolution.

                    CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

    H. Res. 1240 does not apply to terms and conditions of 
employment or to access to public services or accommodations 
within the legislative branch.

                        NEW ADVISORY COMMITTEES

    H. Res. 1240 does not establish or authorize any new 
advisory committees.

                         EARMARK IDENTIFICATION

    H. Res. 1240 contains no congressional earmarks, limited 
tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as described in 
clauses 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of House rule XXI.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    H. Res. 1240, if adopted, would request the President, and 
direct the Secretary of State, to transmit to the House of 
Representatives, not later than 14 days after the date of its 
adoption, copies of all documents in the possession of the 
President or the Secretary of State, respectively, that refer 
or relate to certain aspects of the United States withdrawal 
from Afghanistan.

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    I am deeply disappointed that the Committee majority has 
made the political decision to reject this resolution--a 
request for specific, critical information regarding the United 
States withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan, which has so 
far been denied to Congress. Reporting this resolution 
adversely represents a decision to protect the Biden 
Administration from accountability and basic transparency, at 
the expense of our Committee's oversight jurisdiction and our 
nation's security. If the majority were genuinely concerned 
that the scope of the request should reach back further, they 
could have added any such expansion by amendment during markup.
    Oversight should not be a partisan exercise. The need to 
closely review the disaster that unfolded in Afghanistan last 
year should be something on which we all agree.
    In May of 2021, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and I issued a 
public warning that it was very likely the Taliban would try to 
take control of Afghanistan, and we strongly urged President 
Biden to establish a plan to protect U.S. national security and 
bring our Afghan allies to safety.
    But in August of that year, Americans across the political 
spectrum watched in horror as everything built in Afghanistan 
by 20 years of U.S. and NATO blood, sweat, tears, and treasure 
came crumbling down almost overnight.
    Unfortunately, the State Department and the White House had 
done very little to prepare. At the time the country fell, only 
15 consular officers were in the country. One week into the 
evacuation, that number only rose to 36, despite needing to 
process more than one hundred thousand evacuees.
    The administration waited until the end of July to begin 
evacuating Afghan allies who fought alongside U.S. troops for 
the past 20 years. A request for military assistance in 
planning for an evacuation didn't come until four days before 
the Taliban seized the city of Kabul.
    Our top diplomat in Afghanistan, Ambassador Ross Wilson, 
took a vacation at the same time that General Miller, the U.S. 
commander on the ground in Afghanistan, was warning of ``the 
rapid loss of district centers.'' This was also around the time 
when the U.S. military officially left Bagram Air Base.
    As a result of this staggering failure to plan, the 
emergency that followed forced tens of thousands of people to 
flee to the one remaining place with U.S. troops, the Kabul 
airport.
    For 15 days, Americans and Afghans alike desperately tried 
to get inside the gates and on a plane to freedom. But the 
chaos both outside and inside the gate made it extremely 
difficult, if not impossible, to get inside. As a result, 
outside groups composed of veterans, journalists, congressional 
offices, and even active-duty military and intelligence 
officers banded together to help people they had worked 
alongside for years.
    And then the unthinkable happened. An ISIS-K terrorist was 
able to get close enough to the airport to detonate a bomb that 
killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and more than 160 Afghans. The 
blast also wounded an additional 45 U.S. servicemembers and 
countless Afghans. The bomber was able to get that close 
because we were relying upon the Taliban to provide security at 
the airport's perimeter. It was the deadliest day in 
Afghanistan since 2011.
    The American people deserve answers as to how this 
catastrophe happened. But the State Department has ignored or 
denied every attempt I have made to get pertinent information.
    Since that time, we have discovered that the Administration 
repeatedly misled the American people about its decision-making 
process leading up to that disaster.
    We now know the U.S. military and our allies believed that 
collapse would be the outcome of President Biden's ill-
conceived decision to unconditionally withdraw.
    We now know that key decisions were not made until days 
before the fall of Kabul, despite the Administration being 
warned that an unconditional withdrawal would most likely lead 
to collapse.
    We now know that the Taliban had offered the Biden 
Administration the chance to secure the city of Kabul 
ourselves, but that offer was apparently ignored or declined.
    We now know that President Biden and Secretary of State 
Blinken repeatedly misled the American public about what the 
U.S. military and our allies had recommended regarding 
Afghanistan.
    But there is far more that we do not know. Information that 
would answer critical questions about planning, decision-
making, execution, and accountability is being withheld from 
this committee, despite my specific and detailed requests for 
information that have been pending for more than a year. This 
is why more robust oversight--including this resolution--is 
needed.
    Since August 25, 2021, the Committee on Foreign Affairs has 
held only one open hearing and three classified briefings 
focused on the Afghanistan withdrawal and Noncombatant 
Evacuation Operation (NEO) decisions.
    The September 2021 hearing with Secretary of State Anthony 
Blinken took place before numerous concerning revelations had 
come to light, including the U.S. military's opposition to the 
unconditional nature of our withdrawal.
    The three briefings dedicated to the withdrawal--in August 
2021, September 2021, and June 2022--were conducted in 
classified settings, behind closed doors.
    The most recent June 2022 briefing by State Department 
officials, covering the 2017 to August 2021 period, was 
classified at a high level even though the vast majority of the 
information presented was unclassified. Notwithstanding a 
formal, written request, the State Department has refused to 
provide the Committee with copies of the unclassified opening 
statements read by its officials at that briefing. The 
briefing, which seemed designed to avoid public scrutiny, 
sought to shift blame to the previous administration time and 
again.
    The majority claims that the administration has held 
numerous Afghanistan briefings since the withdrawal. While 
there have been regular briefings--on humanitarian issues and 
efforts to bring out the Americans and tens of thousands of 
Afghan allies stranded behind Taliban lines--they have focused 
on current operations. They have not provided insight or 
accountability for the decisions, planning, and execution that 
led to the terrible outcome.
    Unfortunately the Biden Administration's efforts to escape 
accountability do not end there.
    The State Department also ceased cooperation with the 
Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), 
after SIGAR issued a report blaming the Biden and Trump 
administrations for Afghanistan's collapse--a report which the 
State Department falsely claimed it had not been given a chance 
to provide input for.
    The State Department has refused to share with Congress or 
the American public its official review of the Afghanistan 
withdrawal, which was completed several months ago by retired 
Ambassador Daniel Smith, supposedly because its conclusions are 
classified. However, the classification of that review is no 
impediment to it being shared with this Committee, which 
regularly receives classified information from the Department 
in the discharge of our constitutional responsibilities. This 
inexplicable, continued refusal is why the resolution of 
inquiry specifically requests that the review be provided to 
us.
    The State Department also has ignored our request for 
transcribed interviews with 34 State Department personnel 
involved in executing the withdrawal and evacuation. This 
stands in stark contrast to the transparency of the Department 
of Defense, which has provided transcripts of the interviews of 
U.S. military personnel involved.
    The State Department has refused our request to provide us 
with the dissent cables from personnel in Embassy Kabul who 
reportedly warned about the administration's lack of urgency 
with regard to the deteriorating situation on the ground in 
Afghanistan.
    The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. 
Mark Milley, has described the result of our disastrous 
Afghanistan withdrawal as being a ``strategic failure.'' It was 
the result of a staggering and culpable failure to plan, and 
American and Afghan lives were lost as a consequence. But to 
date no Biden Administration official has been held 
accountable.
    While the 20-year Afghan War Commission (established in 
last year's National Defense Authorization Act) is a worthwhile 
effort likely to cast light on major missteps across multiple 
presidential administrations, it will take years to publish its 
findings, allowing officials who were directly responsible for 
the unconditional withdrawal and botched evacuation to continue 
making critical national security decisions while avoiding any 
responsibility for their poor judgement. That historical review 
is no substitute for the oversight that is the proper job of 
our Committee.
    The Biden Administration's unconditional withdrawal from 
Afghanistan left that country in the control of the Taliban, a 
barbaric group that has given safe haven to al Qaeda--our 
reason for going to Afghanistan in the first place. They 
continue to harbor terrorists, as evidenced by our recent 
strike on Zawahiri in a Taliban-owned villa in downtown Kabul. 
They oppress women on an unprecedented scale. More than 100,000 
Afghan allies have been left behind enemy lines, subject to 
reprisal killings by the Taliban.
    Getting answers to what caused this mess should not be a 
Republican or a Democrat issue. This is an American issue.
    This resolution of inquiry seeks information that the House 
Foreign Affairs Committee needs to conduct real oversight of 
this disaster. I am deeply disappointed that so many of my 
colleagues across the aisle have chosen politics over our 
national security, and have voted to deny the rights of 
Congress and our Committee to the specific information it 
seeks.

                                   Michael T. McCaul,
                                           Ranking Member.

                                  [all]