Pentagon, State Department square off on Afghanistan accountability
By Rebecca Beitsch - 10/17/21 07:29 PM EDT
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say constant finger-pointing between the Pentagon and State Department is making it difficult to get a full accounting of the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Recent hearings on Afghanistan have left members of Congress frustrated as top officials from the State Department and Department of Defense (DOD) lay blame on the other at congressional hearings on Afghanistan.
“When the State Department is here and we asked them a question they say, ‘Well, you have to ask the Defense Department that,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said at a recent hearing. “And now today, again, Defense Department people are before us. And the question was asked and the answer ... was, 'Well, you'll have to ask the State Department that.”
"I object to the continuation of that.”
It’s been two months since President Biden said “the buck stops with me” on Afghanistan, but the State Department has yet to announce a formal review of its work in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon has stopped short of laying out its own timeline.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/577001-pentagon-state-department-square-off-on-afghanistan-accountability
