II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2929 

To establish a Joint Select Committee on Afghanistan to conduct a full 

investigation and compile a joint report on the United States withdrawal 

from Afghanistan. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 4, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. DAINES, 

Ms. ERNST, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To establish a Joint Select Committee on Afghanistan to 

conduct a full investigation and compile a joint report 

on the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Joint Select Committee 

5 on Afghanistan Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON 

2 AFGHANISTAN. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a joint 

4 select committee of Congress to be known as the ‘‘Joint 

5 Select Committee on Afghanistan’’ (in this section re6 ferred to as the ‘‘Joint Committee’’). 

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Joint Committee shall 

9 be composed of 12 members appointed pursuant to 

10 paragraph (2). 

11 (2) APPOINTMENT.—Members of the Joint 

12 Committee shall be appointed as follows: 

13 (A) The majority leader of the Senate shall 

14 appoint 3 members from among Members of 

15 the Senate. 

16 (B) The minority leader of the Senate shall 

17 appoint 3 members from among Members of 

18 the Senate. 

19 (C) The Speaker of the House of Rep20 resentatives shall appoint 3 members from 

21 among Members of the House of Representa22 tives. 

23 (D) The minority leader of the House of 

24 Representatives shall appoint 3 members from 

25 among Members of the House of Representa26 tives. 


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1 (3) CO-CHAIRS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Two of the appointed 

3 members of the Joint Committee shall serve as 

4 co-chairs. The Speaker of the House of Rep5 resentatives and the majority leader of the Sen6 ate shall jointly appoint one co-chair, and the 

7 minority leader of the House of Representatives 

8 and the minority leader of the Senate shall 

9 jointly appoint the second co-chair. The co10 chairs shall be appointed not later than 14 cal11 endar days after the date of the enactment of 

12 this Act. 

13 (B) STAFF DIRECTOR.—The co-chairs, act14 ing jointly, shall hire the staff director of the 

15 Joint Committee. 

16 (4) DATE.—Members of the Joint Committee 

17 shall be appointed not later than 14 calendar days 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (5) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT.—Members shall 

20 be appointed for the life of the Joint Committee. 

21 Any vacancy in the Joint Committee shall not affect 

22 its powers, but shall be filled not later than 14 cal23 endar days after the date on which the vacancy oc24 curs, in the same manner as the original designation 

25 was made. If a member of the Joint Committee 


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1 ceases to be a Member of the House of Representa2 tives or the Senate, as the case may be, the member 

3 is no longer a member of the Joint Committee and 

4 a vacancy shall exist. 

5 (c) INVESTIGATION AND REPORT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Joint 

8 Committee shall conduct an investigation and submit 

9 to Congress a report on the United States 2021 

10 withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

11 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

12 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

13 (A) A summary of any intelligence reports 

14 that indicated an imminent threat at the 

15 Hamid Karzai International Airport preceding 

16 the deadly attack on August 26, 2021, and the 

17 risks to United States and allied country civil18 ians as well as Afghan partners for various 

19 United States withdrawal scenarios. 

20 (B) A summary of any intelligence reports 

21 that indicated that withdrawing military per22 sonnel and closing United States military in23 stallations in Afghanistan before evacuating ci24 vilians would negatively affect the evacuation of 


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1 United States citizens, green card holders, and 

2 Afghan partners and thus put them at risk. 

3 (C) A full review of planning by the Na4 tional Security Council, the Department of 

5 State, and the Department of Defense for a 

6 noncombatant evacuation from Afghanistan, in7 cluding details of all scenarios used by the De8 partment of State or the Department of De9 fense to plan and prepare for noncombatant 

10 evacuation operations. 

11 (D) An analysis of the relationship be12 tween the retrograde and noncombatant evacu13 ation operation plans and operations. 

14 (E) A description of any actions that were 

15 taken by the United States Government to pro16 tect the safety of United States forces and neu17 tralize threats in any withdrawal scenarios. 

18 (F) A full review of all withdrawal sce19 narios compiled by the intelligence community 

20 and the Department of Defense with timelines 

21 for the decisions taken, including all advice pro22 vided by military leaders to President Joseph R. 

23 Biden and his national security team beginning 

24 in January 2021. 


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1 (G) An analysis of why the withdrawal 

2 timeline expedited from the September 11, 

3 2021, date set by President Biden earlier this 

4 year. 

5 (H) An analysis of United States and al6 lied intelligence shared with the Taliban. 

7 (I) An analysis of any actions taken by the 

8 United States Government to proactively pre9 pare for a successful withdrawal. 

10 (J) A summary of intelligence that in11 formed statements and assurances made to the 

12 American people that the Taliban would not 

13 take over Afghanistan with the speed that it did 

14 in August 2021. 

15 (K) A full and unredacted transcript of the 

16 phone call between President Joe Biden and 

17 President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan on July 

18 23, 2021. 

19 (L) A summary of any documents, reports, 

20 or intelligence that indicates whether any mem21 bers of the intelligence community, the United 

22 States Armed Forces, or NATO partners sup23 porting the mission warned that the Taliban 

24 would swiftly reclaim Afghanistan. 


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1 (M) A description of the extent to which 

2 any members of the intelligence community, the 

3 United States Armed Forces, or NATO part4 ners supporting the mission advised steps to be 

5 taken by the White House that were ultimately 

6 rejected. 

7 (N) An assessment of the decision not to 

8 order a noncombatant evacuation operation 

9 until August 14, 2021. 

10 (O) An assessment of whose advice the 

11 President heeded in maintaining the timeline 

12 and the status of forces on the ground before 

13 Thursday, August 12, 2021. 

14 (P) A description of the initial views and 

15 advice of the United States Armed Forces and 

16 the intelligence community given to the Na17 tional Security Council and the White House 

18 before the decisions were taken regarding clo19 sure of United States military installations, 

20 withdrawal of United States assets, and with21 drawal of United States military personnel. 

22 (Q) An assessment of United States assets, 

23 as well as any assets left behind by allies, that 

24 could now be used by the Taliban, ISIS–K, and 


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1 other terrorist organizations operating within 

2 the region. 

3 (R) An assessment of United States assets 

4 slated to be delivered to Afghanistan, if any, 

5 the delivery of which was paused because of the 

6 President’s decision to withdraw, and the status 

7 of and plans for those assets now. 

8 (S) An assessment of vetting procedures 

9 for Afghan civilians to be evacuated with a 

10 timeline for the decision making and ultimate 

11 decisions taken to ensure that no terrorist sus12 pects, persons with ties to terrorists, or dan13 gerous individuals would be admitted into third 

14 countries or the United States. 

15 (T) An assessment of the discussions be16 tween the United States Government and allies 

17 supporting our efforts in Afghanistan and a 

18 timeline for decision making regarding the with19 drawal of United States forces, including dis20 cussion and decisions about how to work to21 gether to repatriate all foreign nationals desir22 ing to return to their home countries. 

23 (U) A review of the policy decisions with 

24 timeline regarding all Afghan nationals and 

25 other refugees evacuated from Afghanistan by 


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1 the United States Government and brought to 

2 third countries and the United States, including 

3 a report on what role the United States Armed 

4 Forces performed in vetting each individual and 

5 what coordination the Departments of State 

6 and Defense engaged in to safeguard members 

7 of the Armed Forces from infectious diseases 

8 and terrorist threats. 

9 (3) FORM.—The report required under para10 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 

11 may contain a classified annex. 

12 (d) MEETINGS.— 

13 (1) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days 

14 after the date on which all members of the Joint 

15 Committee have been appointed, the Joint Com16 mittee shall hold its first meeting. 

17 (2) FREQUENCY.—The Joint Committee shall 

18 meet at the call of the co-chairs. 

19 (3) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 

20 the Joint Committee shall constitute a quorum, but 

21 a lesser number of members may hold hearings. 

22 (4) VOTING.—No proxy voting shall be allowed 

23 on behalf of the members of the Joint Committee. 

24 (e) ADMINISTRATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To enable the Joint Com2 mittee to exercise its powers, functions, and duties, 

3 there are authorized to be disbursed by the Senate 

4 the actual and necessary expenses of the Joint Com5 mittee approved by the co-chairs, subject to the rules 

6 and regulations of the Senate. 

7 (2) EXPENSES.—In carrying out its functions, 

8 the Joint Committee is authorized to incur expenses 

9 in the same manner and under the same conditions 

10 as the Joint Economic Committee is authorized by 

11 section 11 of Public Law 79–304 (15 U.S.C. 1024 

12 (d)). 

13 (3) HEARINGS.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Joint Committee 

15 may, for the purpose of carrying out this sec16 tion, hold such hearings, sit and act at such 

17 times and places, require attendance of wit18 nesses and production of books, papers, and 

19 documents, take such testimony, receive such 

20 evidence, and administer such oaths as the 

21 Joint Committee considers advisable. 

22 (B) HEARING PROCEDURES AND RESPON23 SIBILITIES OF CO-CHAIRS.— 

24 (i) ANNOUNCEMENT.—The co-chairs 

25 of the Joint Committee shall make a public 


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1 announcement of the date, place, time, and 

2 subject matter of any hearing to be con3 ducted, not less than 7 days in advance of 

4 such hearing, unless the co-chairs deter5 mine that there is good cause to begin 

6 such hearing at an earlier date. 

7 (ii) WRITTEN STATEMENT.—A wit8 ness appearing before the Joint Committee 

9 shall file a written statement of proposed 

10 testimony at least 2 calendar days before 

11 the appearance of the witness, unless the 

12 requirement is waived by the co-chairs, fol13 lowing their determination that there is 

14 good cause for failure to comply with such 

15 requirement. 

16 (4) COOPERATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

17 (A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Upon writ18 ten request of the co-chairs, a Federal agency 

19 shall provide technical assistance to the Joint 

20 Committee in order for the Joint Committee to 

21 carry out its duties. 

22 (B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—The 

23 Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, 

24 the Director of National Intelligence, the heads 

25 of the elements of the intelligence community, 


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1 the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the 

2 National Security Council shall expeditiously re3 spond to requests for information related to 

4 compiling the report under subsection (c). 

5 (f) STAFF OF JOINT COMMITTEE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The co-chairs of the Joint 

7 Committee may jointly appoint and fix the com8 pensation of staff as they deem necessary, within the 

9 guidelines for employees of the Senate and following 

10 all applicable rules and employment requirements of 

11 the Senate. 

12 (2) ETHICAL STANDARDS.—Members on the 

13 Joint Committee who serve in the House of Rep14 resentatives shall be governed by the ethics rules and 

15 requirements of the House. Members of the Senate 

16 who serve on the Joint Committee and staff of the 

17 Joint Committee shall comply with the ethics rules 

18 of the Senate. 

19 (g) TERMINATION.—The Joint Committee shall ter20 minate on the date that is one year after the date of the 

21 enactment of this Act. 

22 SEC. 3. FUNDING. 

23 Funding for the Joint Committee shall be derived in 

24 equal portions from— 


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1 (1) the applicable accounts of the House of 

2 Representatives; and 

3 (2) the contingent fund of the Senate from the 

4 appropriations account ‘‘Miscellaneous Items’’, sub5 ject to the rules and regulations of the Senate. 

Æ 


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