Washington:
Multiple US Republican and Democratic lawmakers angrily stormed out of a classified briefing with members of the US President Joe Biden administration on Afghanistan on Wednesday morning following their concerns went unanswered.
Citing sources, CNN reported that lawmakers had been frustrated following State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and Office of the Director of National Security officials failed to answer their fundamental concerns in the course of the briefing for members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
US State Department officials — each privately and publicly — continue to say that about one hundred Americans are nevertheless in Afghanistan who want to get out of the war-torn nation following the Taliban takeover.
Some lawmakers have told CNN they do not fully grasp that accounting, offered the division has mentioned that they evacuated more than 75 Americans from Afghanistan via evacuation efforts in the last handful of weeks. State Department officials have mentioned that the dynamic predicament on the ground is the purpose they can not give a more precise figure.
A US State Department spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday that “as a general matter, we do not comment on communications with Congress, especially those conducted in a classified setting.”
US Republican Michael McCaul of Texas, the best Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” on Wednesday that “everybody walked out” from the meeting, and he questioned no matter if administration officials knew the quantity of Americans nevertheless in the nation.
“I don’t think they know all the answers, quite honestly,” he mentioned of the administration.
A Democratic aide told CNN that some of the members left Wednesday’s classified briefing for the reason that there had been Republican members who had been not wearing masks in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. The aide added that several members are happy with the engagement from the State Department.
Evacuation flights continue to depart Afghanistan at a slow pace, which includes one more than the weekend with more 21 US citizens on board. Officials say it requires a tremendous quantity of work in particular due to the coordination necessary in between the US, Qatar and the Taliban to do background checks on persons who do not have all the important documents, reported CNN.
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