(NewsNation) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, but Republicans are not expecting to gain much new insight.
Blinken’s appearance before the GOP-led committee comes three months after it voted along party lines to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress after he previously declined to meet with lawmakers over the withdrawal.
However, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told NewsNation that he does not expect to get much cooperation from the nation’s top diplomat during Wednesday’s hearing.
“They’re going to divert, delay — everything to do just to keep from taking any credit for the disaster that occurred and the disasters that will occur because of us leaving billions of dollars in armaments on the ground and not destroying them,” Burchett said.
He added: “There was no clear plan. They were clearly out of their league .”
Thirteen Americans died during the withdrawal. Earlier this year, the White House released a 12-page summary of a classified review of the exit. CBS News reported that the report largely blamed the Trump administration for striking a deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
Asked by NewsNation if there is a chance Blinken does not appear before the committee, Blinken said it would not matter. He added that the delays are a further indictment on the Biden administration’s handling of the matter.
“I think we’d get the same answers either way,” he said.
