Republican gives Blinken ‘BULL***’ warning and sets Monday deadline to deliver Afghan document

The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday called ‘bulls***’ on Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s refusal to hand over a key document on the Afghanistan withdrawal.

And Rep. Mike McCaul gave Blinken until the end of Monday to hand over a mid-July 2021 dissent cable sent by diplomats in Kabul, setting out their reservations about exiting.

Failure, he said, would force legal action. 

‘I have the subpoena – it’s right here,’ said McCaul as he waved a document in the air during the committee hearing. ‘And I’m prepared to serve this.’

He first requested the cable in August of 2021, as the chaotic departure unfolded, and has stepped up his demands since Republicans took control of the House and its committees as he probes how the exit went so badly wrong.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said dissent cables were intended to be confidential, which was why he had not been prepared to hand over a key document to the committee

He has also sought the after action report looking at the withdrawal, and embassy evacuation plans. The evacuation plan has been handed over and Blinken announced that the after action report would soon be delivered to Congress. 

The dissent cable reportedly warns that the internationally-backed government in Kabul would likely collapse if the U.S. left. 

During his grilling, the secretary of state said dissent cables were meant to be kept secret.

‘The tradition of having a dissent channel is one that is cherished in the department, and one that goes back decades – it’s a unique way for anyone in the department to speak truth to power as they see it without fear or favor,’ he said. 

‘And they do it, by the regulations that we established for these cables in a privileged and confidential way. 

‘It is vital to me that we preserve the integrity of that process and of that channel – that we not take any steps that could have a chilling effect on the willingness of others to come forward in the future, to express dissenting views on the policies that are being pursued.’

Instead, he suggested holding a briefing on some of the key details. 

McCaul was having none of it. He referenced a similar dispute in the 1970s and a message from a former U.S. ambassador.

The withdrawal in August 2021 was marked by dramatic images from Kabul airport as desperate Afghans sought to flee their new Taliban rulers

‘And in a statement [former Ambassador Boyatt] provided to the committee, he says that any claim providing them to Congress would have a, quote, chilling effect – as your staff has claimed – is, and I quote him directly here, “Bulls***.”

‘Not my words, those are the ambassador’s.’

McCaul set a Monday deadline.

‘I’m gonna give you until the close of business on Monday to produce that dissent cable to this committee and this Congress so the American people can see what the employees at the Embassy in Kabul were thinking about your policy that they dissented from,’ he said.

Republicans are examining the circumstances that led up to the U.S. withdrawal, and how 13 American personnel were killed in a suicide attack amid the chaos of Kabul airport. 

Earlier this month the committee heard from Marine sniper Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews who was security detail in a tower, watching desperate Afghans trying to flee the city’s new Taliban rulers, when he was blindsided by an enormous wave of pressure.

The withdrawal reached its darkest moment when a suicide bomber detonated explosives amid the chaos, killing 13 U.S. service personnel and scores of Afghans

Marine sniper Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews broke down in tears earlier this month as he recounted his harrowing ordeal, and criticized the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal that Republicans have called a ‘stunning failure of leadership’

It was August 26, 2021, and an ISIS-K suicide bomber had detonated on the perimeter of Hamid Karzai International Airport during the chaotic evacuation sparked by the Biden administration’s withdrawal of troops after 20 years in Afghanistan. 

Just moments before the attack, the California veteran spotted a terrorist matching the suspect’s description and asked if he could ‘engage’, but he says his leaders refused. 

Between 100 to 150 ball bearings ended up in Vargas-Andrews’ body in the explosion that killed 11 fellow Marines, two Navy corpsmen and hundreds of Afghan men, women and children. His right arm and right leg had to be amputated over the course of 43 surgeries that followed.

Vargas-Andrews broke down in tears as he recounted his harrowing ordeal, and criticized the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal that Republicans have called a ‘stunning failure of leadership’. 

He detailed how military leaders ignored his warnings minutes earlier, and how those stationed at the airport were told not to engage – even though the Taliban were shooting people trying to get on a plane.