WASHINGTON (TASS): The administration of US President Joe Biden must provide American lawmakers with comprehensive explanations of why serious mistakes were made in the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. This was announced on Tuesday by Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat from New Jersey), who is chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house of the US Congress.
“It is obvious that the US withdrawal [from Afghanistan] was carried out with fatal errors,” the senator said at a hearing in the said committee with the participation of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. “The committee has been awaiting a comprehensive explanation of the administration’s decisions on Afghanistan since it came to power in January. Accountability is needed,” said a legislator representing the ruling party.
The senator said he was “extremely disappointed that [US Defense Secretary Lloyd] Austin declined an invitation to speak at the hearing.” “I expect the minister to appear before the committee in the near future,” Menendez said. He said he “might consider” summoning Austin and others to testify with a subpoena.
Menendez expressed confidence that the United States and the UN should “maintain the existing sanctions” against the radical Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation). “The United States should reintroduce the sanctions that were lifted during the negotiations,” he said. The lawmaker stressed that the US “needs to consider taking new measures” against the Taliban, while ensuring the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan population.
