Today’s D Brief: Afghan hearing turns political; Taliban kill civilians; Post-9/11 war authorizations; Nat’l Guard school bus drivers; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson and Jennifer Hlad
September 14, 2021 11:03 AM ET
The D Brief
Afghanistan on the Hill, Day Two. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is testifying about the Afghanistan withdrawal this morning in the Senate, one day after a combative oversight hearing in the House. Defense One’s Jacqueline Feldscher reports that during Monday’s hearing, “lawmakers focused on political mudslinging and blaming the other party instead of asking legitimate questions.”
To wit: Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, “grilled Blinken on whether Afghan translators who move to the United States are being properly vetted and vaccinated against COVID-19 before being resettled in America, as well as whether any humanitarian aid is sent to the Taliban,” Feldscher writes. But Perry then “asked Blinken if he was interviewed by the FBI and whether the State Department gave the FBI documents on Hunter Biden’s ties to Ukrainian gas company Burisma.”
Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican known for yelling “you lie” at President Barack Obama during his 2009 State of the Union, used most of his allotted time to read aloud a New York Post opinion piece listing President Joe Biden’s alleged lies. He then told Blinken to resign.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/09/todays-d-brief-afghan-hearing-turns-political-taliban-kill-civilians-post-911-war-authorizations-natl-guard-school-bus-drivers-and-bit-more/185331/
