Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement after a closed briefing about Afghanistan with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin:
“We still face a lot of real challenges in Afghanistan even though our troop presence is gone. Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin spoke to a number of these challenges today, including how many American citizens are still left behind in Afghanistan and an update on efforts to bring to justice those who planned the Abbey Gate attack, which killed 13 U.S. service members, but their overall testimony was lacking.
“For a classified briefing, I would have liked to hear more details regarding the interagency planning process, nature of the terrorist threat in Afghanistan today, and their counterterrorism plans going forward. We need to learn from our mistakes if we want to deter Putin’s aggression in Europe or appropriately respond to Chinese economic and military aggression.
“I don’t think this briefing should have been in an entirely classified format. Many Americans — especially our service members and veterans — were disturbed by what they saw last summer, and they want this information as much as I did. So today, I secured commitments from both Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin to return for a public hearing on Afghanistan.”