Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday insisted that the Biden administration had prepared for worst-case scenarios in Afghanistan as irate lawmakers accused the White House of presiding over a historic disaster.
The famously even-tempered diplomat is facing two days of grilling by congressional committees, the first opportunity by lawmakers to directly challenge President Joe Biden’s administration over his end to the 20-year war that brought a swift victory to the Taliban.
Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Biden administration was “intensely focused” on the safety of Americans and had been “constantly assessing” the staying power of the Western-backed government.
“Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained,” Blinken said.
“Nonetheless, we planned and exercised a wide range of contingencies,” he said.
“The evacuation itself was an extraordinary effort — under the most difficult conditions imaginable — by our diplomats, by our military, by our intelligence professionals.”
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{Matzav.com}
