Congress investigates deadly withdrawal and current threats from Afghanistan

Congress revisits the chaotic withdrawal From Afghanistan A pair of hearings were held Wednesday to discuss the threat levels from the country in which the United States is at war since 20 years.

In a hearing on the evacuation of people during the second half of the year, six witnesses testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. U.S. military In Afghanistan, August 2021.

Hamid Karzai International airport was the scene of evacuations. Two witnesses witnessed this as a result. 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians. Three more veterans were part of the many ad-hoc groups that helped to get Afghan allies outside the country. Sixth witness: Executive Director of an immigrant nonprofit organization that helped Afghans resettle In the U.S.

PREVIEWING FIRST GOP-LED HEARING ON AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL: ‘STUNNING FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP’

Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews emotionally recounted He was severely injured in the bombing of Aug 26, 2021. His superiors didn’t give his permission for him to remove the threat, even though he identified the bomber suspect that he believed to still be alive.

“Throughout the entirety of the day on August 26, 2021, we disseminated the suicide bomber information to ground forces at Abbey Gate. … Over the communication network, we passed that there was a potential threat and an attack imminent. This was as serious as it could get,” He explained. “Eventually, the individual disappeared. To this day, we believe he was a suicide bomber. We made everyone on the ground aware. Operations had briefly halted but then started again. Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded. No one was held accountable for our safety.”

He called it a withdrawal “catastrophe, in my opinion” We said “it was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence,” Aiden Gunderson was a former Army combat doctor who served twice in Afghanistan, and was able to assist with evacuation. He told the committee that the withdrawal had been completed. “an organization failure at multiple levels.”

They recalled the tragic and painful memories of the bombing and also described the fear and desperation of thousands of Afghans who flooded the airport gates each day during those two weeks, despite extreme heat and crowding.

Francis Hoang, Lt. Col. Scott Mann and Peter Lucier were part of separate teams that tirelessly worked to get Afghan allies into Kabul. They spoke of the emotional turmoil they experienced, which was something shared by many veterans. The U.S. military declared war on Afghanistan in 2021 with untold numbers of Afghan allies under threat. Many of them referred to the feelings and thoughts of many veterans.