GOP to zero-in on Biden’s handling of Afghanistan at initial hearing

[mystery-ak]

GOP to zero-in on Biden’s handling of Afghanistan at initial hearing
by Rebecca Beitsch - 03/07/23 4:45 PM ET

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is preparing to launch its first public hearing stemming from its investigation into the evacuation of Afghanistan, vowing to examine President Biden’s role in the chaotic U.S. exit from the country.

The hearing – and those that follow – will zero in on one of the most dramatic months of the Biden presidency. While Biden allies tout the largest evacuation in history as a success despite inheriting difficult circumstances and a deal brokered by the prior administration, the GOP has cast the event as nothing short of a disaster.

Lawmakers on the panel will meet Wednesday with two leaders of outfits that organized amid the withdrawal, staging charter flights to aid Afghans seeking to escape the country, as well as other veterans, including a former Army medic on the scene amid a suicide bombing just outside the airport gates.

The U.S. evacuated roughly 88,500 Afghans in August of 2021, but that exit came at a steep price. Thirteen service members lost their lives as the military tried to maintain control of Hamid Karzai International Airport while numerous Afghan allies were left behind.

The country, now under Taliban rule, is facing an economic crisis and food shortage, while many of those who aided the U.S. during its 20-year mission in Afghanistan have struggled to flee the country or remain in hiding.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3888624-gop-to-zero-in-on-bidens-handling-of-afghanistan-at-initial-hearing/

[mystery-ak]

Wounded U.S. Marine Breaks Down as He Recalls Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal and Kabul Airport Bombing



Kristina Wong 8 Mar 2023

United States Marine Tyler Justin Vargas-Andrews broke down in tears during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing as he recalled the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and the Kabul airport bombing that left him grievously wounded and killed his mentor and friend.

It was the first hearing by House Republicans to examine the withdrawal that happened under the Biden administration’s watch and led to 13 service members killed — the highest casualty count for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 10 years.

https://twitter.com/kristina_wong/status/1633551209213599748

Vargas-Andrews said he and other Marines at the airport’s Abbey Gate actually spotted a man who fit the description of a possible suicide bomber before the bombing, and requested permission to kill him but were not given orders to shoot.

He said around 2 a.m. on August 26, intelligence personnel confirmed there was a suicide bomber nearing Abbey gate, described as clean-shaven and wearing a brown dress, black vest, and traveling with a companion. He said he asked why the man had not been apprehended sooner if there was a full description but was told the intelligence asset could not be compromised.

He and other Marines disseminated the suicide bomber information to ground forces at Abbey gate.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/08/wounded-u-s-marine-breaks-down-recalls-disastrous-afghanistan-withdrawal-kabul-airport-bombing/

[berdie]

I am still deeply angered by this.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1633536237532499968

[christian]

Just another day in a U.S, WOKE PARADISE, remember this had to be better than anything Trump might have done.  Woke agenda pushers swore to it, nothing more to say.  Biden won, live/die with it!
 

[mystery-ak]

Marine Sniper: I Was Denied Permission to Take Out Kabul Airport Suicide Bomber

Spencer Brown
 |  March 08, 2023 3:15 PM

After many long months without oversight or accountability for President Joe Biden's disastrous and deadly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, the House of Representatives' Republican majority is finally doing what the preceding Democrat majority never did: hearing from those whose lives were forever changed on the front lines of the chaos in Afghanistan at the end of two decades of U.S. involvement.

Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a sergeant in the United States Marines, was in Kabul as the Biden administration's haphazard withdrawal took place. He was at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) watching the chaos unfold, and he was one of the hundreds of individual wounded when a suicide bomber attacked one of the airport's gates where hundreds of individuals were waiting to be screened for evacuation.

In an emotional opening statement to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Vargas-Andrews told his story, one that the Biden administration never highlighted and Democrats in Congress apparently didn't want on the record.

On August 26, 2021, Vargas-Andrews was in position at HKIA when he noticed suspicious individuals outside the gate to the airport as thousands of people were attempting to flee Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban, fearful for the future and what retribution anyone who'd helped American forces over the previous twenty years would face.

"I requested engagement authority when my team leader was ready on the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System," Vargas-Andrews said, testifying in his personal capacity. "The response: leadership did not have the engagement authority for us — do not engage."

more
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2023/03/08/marine-corps-sniper-tells-congress-he-was-denied-permission-to-take-out-kabul-airport-suicide-bomber-n2620363

[mystery-ak]

March 9, 2023 8:16am EST
Gold Star moms enraged after wounded Marine's shocking testimony on Kabul suicide bombing
'The whole thing could have been prevented,' one mom said after testimony on botched Afghanistan withdrawal

By Bailee Hill | Fox News


The House Foreign Affairs Committee held an emotional hearing Wednesday as witnesses recounted the Biden administration's botched Afghanistan withdrawal over one year later.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was wounded while he was stationed at Kabul's Abbey Gate, gave tearful testimony claiming he was never explicitly granted permission to shoot a suspected ISIS member.

Vargas-Andrews said he believes that suspect was the bomber who took the lives of 13 service members during the withdrawal of U.S. forces.



"Pointedly, we asked him for engagement authority and permission," Vargas-Andrews told the committee. "We asked him if we could shoot. Our battalion commander said, and I quote, I don't know, end quote. Myself and my team we asked very harshly, ‘Well, who does?’ Because this is your responsibility, sir. He again replied he did not know, but would find out. We received no update and never got our answer. Eventually, the individual disappeared."

"To this day, we believe he was a suicide bomber," he continued.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6322197294112