•HRES 666 IH 
ARTICLE I: DERELICTION OF DUTY INCLUDING AND RE-
SULTING IN ABANDONMENT OF AMERICANS IN AF-
GHANISTAN 
The Constitution provides that the House of Rep-
resentatives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’ 
and that ‘‘all civil Officers of the United States, shall be 
removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction 
of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Mis-
demeanors’’. In his conduct while Secretary of Defense, 
and in violation of his constitutional oath to defend and 
secure our country and uphold the Constitution, taken on 
January 22, 2021, Lloyd James Austin III engaged in 
high crimes and misdemeanors through his dereliction of 
his duties and intentional abandonment of Americans in 
Afghanistan, in that: 
Secretary Austin took an oath to defend and secure 
our country and uphold the Constitution when he was 
sworn in as Secretary of Defense on January 22, 2021. 
Article II of the United States Constitution tasks the exec-
utive branch with ensuring the laws passed by Congress 
and signed into law by the President are faithfully exe-
cuted. 
Despite having nearly 8 months as Secretary of De-
fense to prepare for and execute a smooth and orderly de-
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•HRES 666 IH 
parture from Afghanistan, Secretary Austin failed to ade-
quately prepare for such a withdrawal, including through 
his decisions during the catastrophic events of July and 
August 2021, which initially resulted in as many as 9,000 
American citizens being abandoned in Afghanistan. These 
actions recklessly abandoned the interests, security, and 
values of the United States of America, and contributed 
to the unnecessary deaths of 13 United States 
servicemembers, as well as uncounted American civilians 
who were targeted and murdered by the Taliban. 
During the night of July 1, 2021, Bagram Air Base 
was secretly evacuated, which was subsequently de facto 
turned over to Afghan Government control without notice 
to them. Because the United States Armed Forces, which 
were under the direction of Secretary Austin and Presi-
dent Biden, as Commander in Chief, abandoned Bagram 
Air Base and the prison facilities associated with it with-
out ensuring its persisting security throughout the remain-
ing duration of the United States presence in the country, 
thousands of Taliban prisoners were freed. One of these 
prisoners, Abdul Rehman Al-Loghri, was an ISIS–K ter-
rorist who detonated a bomb outside Hamid Karzai Inter-
national Airport (HKIA), killing 13 United States 
servicemembers and at least 170 Afghans. The strategic 
disadvantages of HKIA as a headquarters for the Amer-
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•HRES 666 IH 
ican withdrawal from Afghanistan, as compared to 
Bagram Air Base, were blatantly apparent, and Secretary 
Austin’s decision to evacuate the base in preference for 
HKIA caused cascading failures in the withdrawal that 
represent a gross neglect for his constitutional duties to 
the national security of the United States and provide for 
the reasonable safety of the servicemembers entrusted to 
his leadership. 
Further, though the Taliban failed to uphold the ne-
gotiated agreement providing the foundation for the draw-
down of United States military forces from Afghanistan, 
Secretary Austin failed in his responsibility to modify the 
strategy or logistics related to the removal of United 
States military personnel from Afghanistan, including to 
delay the United States drawdown or otherwise mitigate 
persisting threats posed by the Taliban and their affiliated 
forces to the United States. Instead, Secretary Austin 
forced an arbitrary withdrawal deadline of September 11, 
despite substantial evidence and other intelligence being 
available that the United States lacked the capabilities to 
effectively implement this deadline without assuming sig-
nificant costs, including of American lives. Secretary Aus-
tin’s strategic and moral blindness to the glaring flaws in 
the withdrawal strategy represents an extraordinary dere-
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•HRES 666 IH 
liction of his duties to the Constitution and to the people 
of the United States of America. 
Wherefore, Lloyd James Austin III, by such conduct, 
has forsaken his sworn duties to the United States of 
America, its national security, and its people, and has 
acted in a manner grossly incompatible with the Constitu-
tion and the Office of Secretary of Defense. Lloyd James 
Austin III thus warrants impeachment and trial, and re-
moval from office. 
Æ 
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