House Foreign Affairs panel votes to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt for refusal to testify on Afghanistan withdrawal

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted along party lines to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt for refusing to testify on Tuesday about the botched August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.Following hours of deliberations, the GOP-led panel voted 26-25, with every Republican in favor of holding Blinken in contempt of Congress and every Democrat opposed.“Rather than take accountability for this, the secretary hides from the American people.He would prefer to hide rather than be before this committee today,” said Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

“The Secretary’s willful indifference has brought us to this moment.”Republican panel members had hoped that Blinken would shed light on the “go-to-zero” order in Afghanistan that prompted the evacuation of US diplomats and troops, culminating in a chaotic few days at the Kabul International Airport.An ISIS-K suicide bomber took advantage of the mad dash and detonated at Abbey Gate outside the airport, killing 13 US military service members.In a scathing report earlier this month, GOP committee members faulted Blinken for keeping the US Embassy in Kabul open too long during the evacuation and failing to request a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) until after the capital city fell to the Taliban in mid-August.Asked Tuesday when the full House would vote on the measure, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that it will not occur until after the 2024 election on Nov.5.House Republicans barely passed a contempt measure earlier this year against Attorney General Merrick Garland for denying investigative committees access to audio tapes of President Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.That measure never passed the Democrat-controlled Senate, but even if it had, the Justice Department would be unlikely to prosecute.

The Blinken contempt measure is slated for a similar fate, if it ever receives a House vote.The only recent former administration officials to serv...