The work will include a review of the “evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan nationals.”
By Josh Plank, World Israel News
The U.S. State Department’s acting inspector general, Diana Shaw, has notified Congress that her office is launching a series of reviews into the Biden administration’s “suspension of operations” at the American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August, Politico reported Monday.
“Given the elevated interest in this work by Congress and the unique circumstances requiring coordination across the Inspector General community, I wanted to notify our committees of jurisdiction of this important work,” Shaw wrote in a letter obtained by Politico, which was sent to leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, the intelligence committees in both chambers, and others.
The inspector general specified that the work would include reviews of “(1) the Afghanistan Special Immigrant Visa Program; (2) Afghans processed for refugee admission in the United States; (3) resettlement of Afghan refugees and visa recipients; and (4) Embassy Kabul emergency action planning and execution, to include evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan nationals.”
Shaw listed the same four areas for review in a separate Oct. 15 action memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which was also obtained by Politico.
The Pentagon’s inspector general has launched at least three reviews related to Biden’s widely criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan, including one focused on the botched drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians instead of an Islamic State target.
Several congressional panels have also announced their own investigations into various aspects of the withdrawal.
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, “We need an investigation right now into what happened here with this evacuation and with this drawdown. We need a select committee. We need hearings held in public to get to the bottom of this decision.”
“The administration has proved they have no interest in actually getting us the facts. They have misled us at every turn. And if it seems like I’m angry about this, it is because I am,” Hawley said.
In a statement on August 16, Biden defended his moves in Afghanistan as “the right decision for our people.”
“I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me,” Biden said.