The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee wants answers from the Biden administration about how it intends to keep America safe from terrorism.
Rep. Mike Rogers, a lawmaker from Alabama, urged the administration to come up with and share a plan to prevent Afghanistan, which is now controlled by the Taliban, from becoming a safe haven for terrorist organizations, given that the United States withdrew its troops at the end of last month.
“We know that President Biden ignored his top military advisors on Afghanistan and the errors that resulted from that mistake are devastating,” he said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and ISIS are reforming in Afghanistan, and the Biden-Harris administration continues to ignore our calls for a plan. Without any strategic air bases in the area, we can assume the administration doesn’t actually have a counterterrorism plan to conduct ‘over-the-horizon’ operations to defeat al-Qaeda or ISIS.”
Rogers also brought up recent comments from various intelligence officials that al Qaeda could obtain the means to attack the U.S. within a year or two.
“The Biden-Harris administration needs to take these warnings seriously,” the lawmaker added, referring to comments made Tuesday by Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrior, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Deputy CIA Director David S. Cohen. “Where is President Biden’s plan to prevent a haven for terrorists from forming in Afghanistan?”
The fear of al Qaeda’s return in Afghanistan may have materialized days ago when a proof-of-life video featured Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy who took over the group after the latter’s death in 2011, while Dr. Amin al Haq, bin Laden’s security chief, received a warm welcome upon his return to Afghanistan in August after the fall of Kabul, with a video showing him guarded by a large convoy of armed Taliban fighters.
The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, combined with the Taliban’s surge into power, prompted a number of Capitol Hill hearings.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken also testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday and the House Foreign Affairs Committee a day earlier, which included calls for his resignation. Milley is set to testify along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and McKenzie in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 28.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez threatened to subpoena Austin after he declined to appear in front of the committee during Tuesday’s hearing that featured Blinken.
