Accountability and transparency is needed after American people were misled
ARLINGTON, Va.— Ahead of the upcoming House Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing on U.S. policies during the war in Afghanistan and our military withdrawal, Concerned Veterans for America Senior Adviser Dan Caldwell issued the following statement on behalf of the organization:
“Congress largely failed to provide effective oversight of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan. It is imperative that members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee use this hearing featuring four key architects of America’s Afghanistan policy to ask substantive questions about what went wrong in our nation’s longest war. If members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee use their time during this hearing simply to take political potshots or to grandstand, they will have once again failed the American people on Afghanistan.
“Richard Armitage, Ryan Crocker, H.R. McMaster, and Douglas Lute all held important leadership roles overseeing American diplomatic and military operations in Afghanistan. Their service to our country should be respected, but that should not prevent members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from asking tough questions or challenging them if they make inaccurate statements. Too much congressional deference to our military and diplomatic leaders on Afghanistan enabled many of our failures. In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Afghanistan, that has to change.”
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