Investigative Work: Getting Answers on the Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal

Since the beginning of the 118th Congress, Chairman McCaul and the Committee on Foreign Affairs Republicans have conducted nearly 20 transcribed interviews senior Biden-Harris administration officials, including:

• Under Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs John Bass, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, led the evacuation operation after Kabul fell
• Jen Psaki, former White House Press Secretary
• General Austin Scott Miller, Commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and U.S Forces Afghanistan from September 2018 to July 2021, shortly before the fall of Kabul.
• Derek Chollet, Chief of Staff to Defense Secretary Austin and former Counselor to the State Department during the withdrawal
• Suzy George, Chief of Staff to Secretary Blinken during the withdrawal
• Senior Adviser Ned Price, State Department Spokesperson during the withdrawal
• Former Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Brian McKeon, D-MR during Afghanistan withdrawal
• Former Ambassador Carol Perez, Acting Undersecretary for Management during Afghanistan withdrawal
• Former Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation
• Former Ambassador Ross Wilson, Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy Kabul
• Consul General Jayne Howell, Consul General to Ankara, Turkey, and Consular Lead during August 2021 Evacuation
• Consul General James DeHart, Afghanistan Task Force and Second-in-Command to Under Secretary Bass during the evacuation
• Sam Aronson, Foreign Service Officer deployed to Kabul for the August 2021 evacuation
• Ambassador Dean Thompson, Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau throughout the Afghanistan withdrawal and NEO
• Jonathan Mennuti, Chief of Staff to Acting Under Secretary of State for Management Carol Perez throughout the Afghanistan withdrawal and NEO
• Mark Evans, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan throughout the Afghanistan withdrawal and NEO
• Ambassador Dan Smith, author of the State Department’s After Action Review
• Salman Ahmed, Director of State Department Policy Planning throughout the Afghanistan withdrawal and NEO