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.
