Blinken gives McCaul 300 documents, but not the 8 he requested

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken failed to satisfy a request for documents related to the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal issued by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), giving him 300 documents on Thursday but omitting eight that the committee asked for specifically, and for which the deadline was Tuesday.

Some of the requested documents are part of the After-Action Review (AAR) of President Joe Biden's withdrawal efforts, which McCaul said were necessary to arrive at legislation that will prevent another disastrous pullout like that one.

"The AAR files are necessary to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again,” said McCaul in a statement on Aug. 10.

The 300 files dumped on the committee contain already known information, leading McCaul to conclude that efforts to obscure the truth about the pullout are in full force.

"The Department’s anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committee’s oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient. Neither is acceptable," McCaul wrote.

“I will not rest until we get answers and accountability as to what happened,” McCaul said. “How did this go so wrong?”