Aside from the British, President Joe Biden is also under pressure from the U.S. Congress, not just from Republicans but also from his own party, to extend the Afghanistan evacuation deadline. Two House members, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Aug. 24, infuriating both the White House and the DOD. “We conducted this visit in secret, speaking about it only after our departure, to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground, and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand,” they said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
Three officials familiar with the flight told AP that State Department, Defense Department and White House officials were furious about the incident because it was done without coordination with diplomats or military commanders directing the evacuation. The U.S. military found out about the visit as the legislators’ aircraft (AP says it was a charter aircraft — how it even got clearance to go to Kabul is not explained) was inbound to Kabul, according to the officials. One senior U.S. official said the administration saw the lawmakers’ visit as manifestly unhelpful and several other officials said the visit was viewed as a distraction for troops and commanders at the airport who are waging a race against time to evacuate thousands of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others as quickly as possible.
Back in Washington, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-WA) emerged from an Aug. 23 classified briefing with intelligence officials on Monday, pessimistic that the Biden administration will be able to meet its goal of evacuating all Americans and its allies from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, saying that was “very unlikely.”
“It’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month,” Schiff said, and stating further he was worried about the terror threat to the airport.
“I don’t see a scenario under which we get our folks out” by Aug. 31, said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), an Intelligence Committee member and former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan. “The bottom line is, these are our people. These are our citizens. These are our Afghan partners, and we have to make a commitment to get them out.” What scenario, I wonder, does he see if U.S. troops stay.
