McCaul: “Disgraceful” State Dept. Left Hundreds of USAGM Journalists in Afghanistan

Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul has released the following statement on the news that more than 500 journalists and their families who were employed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) were abandoned by the State Department in Afghanistan. Only 50 USAGM staffers were evacuated, thanks to efforts by our allies – not the United States government.

“It is absolutely disgraceful the U.S. State Department claimed they evacuated their local employees when in reality they abandoned hundreds of USAGM journalists and their families. Some of these journalists were given express assurances by the Biden Administration that they would be treated as locally employed staff – but were not. My office was working with one of these journalists and tried for two weeks to get attention brought to his case so he, his wife, and his infant child could be saved – but our pleas were ignored. I am calling on the president and the State Department to rapidly find ways to get these people to safety and away from the threats President Biden and Secretary Blinken enabled.”