'What Idiot Decided That?': Brian Mast Grills Antony Blinken Over US Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Thanks for being here today. I'm going to start with a board behind me. We have a database of individuals that are coming forward to talk about their experiences with Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago. We had Sergeant Vargas Andrews, amputee, injured in the withdrawal of Afghanistan. Nobody, nobody in any agency had asked his story whatsoever, even though he was at the tip of the spear of what had happened in the withdrawal. And so we want to hear, as we are doing oversight over what happened with the withdrawal of Afghanistan, we want to hear everybody's story, any story, whether they're an SIV, whether there's somebody still stuck in Afghanistan, whether they're a Marine, a soldier, somebody that was on the wall there, that was brought in to assist with SIVs, State Department, somebody that sent a descent cable. We want to hear from those individuals, because it is important to us that as we do oversight over the withdrawal of Afghanistan, that we hear everybody's story, which has not happened to date.

I want to start with a couple of questions, Mr. Secretary. Was Joe Biden inaugurated and sworn in as president on January 20, 2021? Yes, he was. And were you confirmed by the Senate on January 26, 2021? That's correct. And I do have a copy of your hearings. I want to reference one part of it with Senator Graham. On page 38 of it, you aptly state that any withdrawal should be based upon conditions.

You can agree with that. That was certainly the preferred course. Yes. And moving backward in time, President Trump was in rather his team in Doha and secured an agreement with the Taliban. That's correct. It's been brought up many times today. And that agreement, again, I have that directly in front of me.

First sentence in it, peace agreement, four parts, guarantees and enforcement mechanisms that will prevent the use of the soil of Afghanistan by any group or individual against the security of the United States and its allies. Conditions. Yes. So president agreed there needed to be conditions. You agreed there needed to be conditions. Nearly every member of this committee so far today has asked about Afghanistan to include yourself bringing it up. And I just want to ask right now, will you give us a commitment that you will come back here to discuss specifically the withdrawal of Afghanistan? Congressman, we'll make sure going forward, especially as the work of this committee and other committees continue on Afghanistan, that the State Department will be present and engaged.

Will you come back and answer questions about the withdrawal of Afghanistan? I'm not going to prejudge that. As you know, testified on the book of occasions last year. Do you think that you should answer questions on Afghanistan? Will you? I will certainly answer questions on Afghanistan one way or another in whatever the appropriate comments. Will you come here in person and answer questions on Afghanistan? I'm happy to take that up with the chairman and ranking member. I think you answered it yourself. Will you come back here, if invited, to answer questions on Afghanistan? I look forward to making sure that I and other members of the State Department provide the information needed by this committee on Afghanistan going forward for the work that you're doing. I hope you do a better job at that than you have done to date.

I want to move to a couple other questions. On April 14, 2021, President Biden announces the full withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan. Do you know the date that he announced for that? That he announced we would withdraw? I believe you did you just reference it? The dates that he announced, we would actually withdraw. Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Yes, by September 1. He announced by September 11. Early September, yeah.

Not early September. By September 11, that's not just any date, correct? I think it underscores the fact that the mission that we set out to accomplish. He announced we would withdraw on September 11, correct? You're correct. And I think it underscores the fact that we should withdraw. Let's not be bashful about that. No, my recollection again, I've been early September, but I think you're correct. He also said this.

He said, I concluded it is time to end America's longest war. I concluded. He said it himself. Another quote from him. I called President Bush to inform him of my decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. Was it President Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan? It was. He's the commander in chief.

Absolutely. I thank you for acknowledging that. I want to move to just one other question here. And this is specific to the withdrawal. On June 24 of that year, it was announced again by President Biden that we would be drawing down to 650 troops, specifically to provide security for diplomats after the main military force completes withdraw. You understand that? Yes, that's correct. So here's my question.

Of anybody that has ever spent five minutes or five hours in Afghanistan, what idiot would believe it is smart to remove the military force and leave the diplomats behind? And obviously, it ended with them 50 days later having to bring back 3,000 to 8,000 troops. So what idiot decided that? Well, pursuant to the agreement reached by the previous administration with a Taliban that called for the withdrawal of all of our forces, all of them. What idiot decided to pull out the main fighting force before pulling out the diplomats, which resulted in 3,000 to 8,000 additional troops being sent back into Afghanistan? What idiot decided that? Again, congressman, pursuant to the agreement that had been reached by the previous administration, we were to withdraw all of our forces before. So you're not going to answer the question. Far for the course with you. Thank you for answering some of my questions today. I hope you'll answer more of them later.