House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday said it was President Biden’s fault that two Congress members took an unannounced trip to Kabul airport to see for themselves the U.S. evacuation effort.
Mr. McCarthy said he understood why the lawmakers — Republican Rep Peter Meijer of Michigan and Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts — took matters into their own hands to bring oversight to the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.
“It’s not the best idea to go there, but I understand their frustration by the lack of any answers from this administration,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said at a press conference.
He faulted the White House for not revealing the number of Americans still stranded in the country since the Taliban took over, saying that type of information drove Mr. Meijer and Mr. Moulton to take action.
“They’re both veterans. They’re both frustrated. They have an administration that won’t tell them the answers to how many Americans are left, or those Afghans that probably worked with them and helped them,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Earlier, Mr. Meijer and Mr. Moulton were criticized by Pentagon officials who said they distracted troops from the mission of evacuating Americans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said she did not think it was a good idea for the two lawmakers to travel to Afghanistan at this time.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter shortly after reports of the trip on Tuesday, warning members to follow advisories by the Defense and State departments not to travel into the region.
Mr. Meijer and Mr. Moulton defended their decision to go by saying they wanted to oversee evacuation efforts, adding that they took safety precautions ahead of time.
The Biden administration is scrambling to evacuate remaining U.S. military personnel from the country by an Aug. 31 deadline.
President Biden said Tuesday that more than 70,000 people have been evacuated from the country since mid-August.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.