Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the second day defended the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sept.14 (UPI) — Senators on Tuesday grilled Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan which Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. called “fatally flawed.” Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pledged to hold the Biden administration accountable for the U.S. exit from Afghanistan as Blinken testified before Congress for the second consecutive day. “The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed,” Menendez said in his opening remarks. “This committee expects to receive a full explanation of the administration’s decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January. There has to be accountability.” Blinken continued to defend President Joe Biden ‘s decision to withdraw U.S. troops and end the 20-year war with Afghanistan, saying no one in the government expected Afghan forces to surrender to the Taliban so quickly, allowing the militant group to take control of the country. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.
