This resolution condemns the President's failure to heed military and intelligence advisors about the speed and nature of the Taliban offense in Afghanistan and urges the President to commit to maintaining the evacuation operation as long as necessary to evacuate any U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or Afghan partner who requests evacuation assistance .
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 607 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 607
Condemns President Biden's failure to heed the advice of military and
intelligence advisors about the speed and nature of the Taliban
offensive, leading to a disorganized, chaotic, and abrupt evacuation of
United States personnel and Afghan allies.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 24, 2021
Mr. Waltz (for himself, Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Scalise, Ms. Stefanik, Mr.
McCaul, Mr. Carl, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Cloud, Mr. Garcia of
California, Mr. Steube, Mr. Keller, Mr. Hagedorn, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr.
Buchanan, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Mast, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Buck, Mr. Newhouse,
Mr. Hern, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mrs. Walorski, Mr.
Gonzalez of Ohio, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Meuser, Mr. Cawthorn, Mrs.
Wagner, Mr. Palazzo, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mrs.
McClain, Mr. Balderson, Mr. Kustoff, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mrs.
Cammack, Mr. Banks, Mr. Walberg, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Calvert, Mr. McHenry,
Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Guthrie, Mrs. Fischbach, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr.
Long, Mr. Arrington, Mr. Murphy of North Carolina, Mr. Moore of
Alabama, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Bost, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Clyde, Mr. Hice
of Georgia, Mr. Latta, Ms. Letlow, Mr. Crawford, Mr. LaTurner, Mr.
Issa, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Babin,
Mr. Mann, Mr. C. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Wittman,
Mr. Jacobs of New York, Mr. Pfluger, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Carter of
Georgia, Mr. Hill, Mr. Moolenaar, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Pence, Mr. Gallagher,
Mrs. Harshbarger, Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. Emmer, Mr. Smucker, Mr. Stauber,
Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Nunes, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Norman,
Mr. Smith of Missouri, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Loudermilk, Mr. Johnson of
Louisiana, Mr. Budd, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Bilirakis, Mrs.
Spartz, Mr. Allen, Mr. Posey, Mr. Cline, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr.
Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Joyce of Ohio,
Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Comer, Mr. Bentz, Mr. Estes, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr.
Guest, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Meijer, Mr. Stewart, Ms.
Mace, Mr. Amodei, Ms. Van Duyne, Mrs. Miller of West Virginia, Mr.
Upton, Mrs. Bice of Oklahoma, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Zeldin, Mr. Wenstrup, Mr.
Rice of South Carolina, Mrs. Lesko, Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr.
Steil, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Cole, Mrs. Kim of
California, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Brady, Mr. Garbarino, Mr.
Williams of Texas, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Hollingsworth, Mr. Armstrong, Mr.
Barr, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Katko, Ms. Cheney, and Mr. Weber of
Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemns President Biden's failure to heed the advice of military and
intelligence advisors about the speed and nature of the Taliban
offensive, leading to a disorganized, chaotic, and abrupt evacuation of
United States personnel and Afghan allies.
Whereas despite increasing Taliban violence in the first three months of 2021
and intelligence that the Taliban and al-Qaida were maintaining close
ties, on April 14, 2021, President Biden announced a full United States
troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021;
Whereas in his April 14, 2021, announcement of full United States troop
withdrawal, President Biden stated, ``We will not conduct a hasty rush
to the exit'' and ``We'll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely'',
and flatly denied the assessments from his own intelligence community
about prospects for the fall of the government in Kabul;
Whereas, on July 6, 2021, the United States military withdrew from Bagram Air
Base, Afghanistan, reportedly without notifying the base's new Afghan
commander;
Whereas, on July 8, 2021, President Biden said that ``there's going to be no
circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an
embassy of the United States from Afghanistan'', adding ``the likelihood
there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the
whole country is highly unlikely'' and moved up the September 11, 2021,
withdrawal date to another arbitrary date of August 31, 2021;
Whereas, on July 12, 2021, President Biden ordered 4-star General Austin Miller,
Commander of NATO's Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-
Afghanistan, to relinquish his position and depart Afghanistan, leaving
the remaining United States presence without a seasoned leader in the
face of a growing Taliban offensive;
Whereas, on August 6, 2021, the first Provincial capital, Zaranj, fell to the
Taliban since the signing of the United States-Taliban agreement,
leading to a violent onslaught of offensives throughout other Provinces;
Whereas, on August 15, 2021, the United States Embassy in Kabul was evacuated
and Taliban fighters soon stood outside chanting ``Death to America'';
Whereas, as of August 23, 2021, the Department of State and Department of
Defense were unable to provide the number of United States citizens and
lawful permanent residents (LPRs) remaining in Afghanistan, including
the status of Mark Frerichs who is held hostage, an estimate of how long
it will take to evacuate this number of citizens and LPRs, and what
efforts are being made to secure their return to the United States; and
Whereas the Biden administration received countless letters, calls, and
oversight questions from bipartisan Members of Congress over the last 7
months on plans for the withdrawal that received minimal response: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns President Biden's failure to heed the advice
of military and intelligence advisors about the speed and
nature of the Taliban offensive, leading to a disorganized,
chaotic, and abrupt evacuation of United States personnel and
Afghan allies;
(2) condemns President Biden's inability to present a
coherent plan to prevent a Taliban takeover or prepare for the
long-term counterterrorism effects of a withdrawal, to
effectively plan for the evacuation of United States citizens,
or to adequately respond to concerns from Congress about the
need to rapidly take steps to evacuate our Afghan allies
following his announcement of full United States troop
withdrawal;
(3) condemns the damage done to United States credibility,
partnerships, and national security by the President's
abandonment of our Afghan allies, failure to consult with our
NATO partners, and creation of a vacuum for terrorist networks
and other United States adversaries to thrive in;
(4) calls on the President to conduct a multi-agency
accounting of United States military equipment and other
resources left behind in Afghanistan, now in the hands of the
Taliban or other groups, and immediately present a clear plan
to Congress of how he intends to fill the intelligence gaps
created by this chaotic withdrawal; and
(5) calls on the President to commit to maintaining the
evacuation operation as long as necessary to safely evacuate
any United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, and
Afghan partner that requests evacuation assistance and to
utilize all United States military resources to ensure access
to Hamid Karzai International Airport remains open and
unobstructed.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line