Title: 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.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
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)]

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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.
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