U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman the House Armed Services Committee, is criticizing the Secretary of Defense over faults in his After Action Review of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
Chairman @RepMikeRogersAL expressed his disappointment to Secretary Austin in the lack of accountability and transparency from DoD in the classified AAR concerning the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Via @HoustonKeene https://t.co/4T3FkqaYKA
— Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) June 16, 2023
Rogers (R-Saks) sent a letter to Austin detailing his issues with the report and Austin’s “personal reflections” that were attached to the report in a classified memorandum.
Letter to Sec. Austin Re Af… by Houston Keene
“While the fog of war is likely to result in mistakes and even tragedy,” Rogers said in the letter, “an honest appraisal of the Biden Administration’s involvement in implementing the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has still not occurred. Towards this objective, it is incumbent on the Committee and its oversight responsibilities to determine what went wrong and how such a catastrophe can be avoided in the future.”
The House Armed Services Committee chairman pointed to omissions in the report and called on Austin to produce all the documents.
“Moreover, the Department’s AAR produced to the House omitted significant portions included in its Table of Contents, including all endnotes and other appendices to the report,” he said. “Additionally, significant redaction of material in the classified report is not explained.
“The Committee relies upon transparency in conducting oversight for the American people, so I hope exclusion of associated documents with the AAR was unintentional and that the Committee can receive an appropriately un-redacted version. Please produce all documents, no later than July 7, 2023, associated with the AAR as listed in the report’s Table of Contents.”
The report released by the White House in April defended the president and tried to pin the blame of the botched withdrawal on the Trump administration.
According to Fox News Digital, a Defense Department spokesperson said “they had nothing to add at this time and that they would respond to Rogers as appropriate.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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