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U.S. Rep. Moore introduces measure seeking info on Afghanistan withdrawal

By Tim Vandenack - | Aug 20, 2021

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U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, a Salt Lake City Republican, represents Utah's 1st District.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Blake Moore wants more details on the lead-up to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The American people, he said in a statement, “deserve to know what went wrong” in the weeks and months before the U.S. military departure from the country, which has resulted in the takeover of the Afghan government by Taliban forces.

Accordingly, he announced Friday that he’s introduced a measure, the Afghanistan Accountability Act, calling for a review of the intelligence and communication related to the withdrawal provided to President Joe Biden and national security officials between January and August this year. His measure calls for the review to be done within 60 days and his hope is to make sure what he called the “absence of presidential leadership” in the turn of events doesn’t happen again.

“I am heartbroken by the stories coming from Afghanistan as my staff and I scramble to help as many U.S. citizens and eligible Afghan families as possible,” said Moore, a Republican from Salt Lake City.

A Taliban regime, regarded as brutal and harsh, ruled Afghanistan before the U.S. invasion of the country in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. U.S. forces invaded the country because of the Taliban regime’s refusal to turn over Osama bin Laden, regarded as the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, according to National Public Radio.

Biden announced his Afghanistan plans in April, and Moore said he voiced concerns about the lack of a conditions-based withdrawal. The president set a Sept. 11 deadline to get out of Afghanistan.

The president’s decision to pursue a Sept. 11 deadline “was theatrical and disturbing,” the 1st District representative went on. “Without a responsible exit plan, the Taliban eroded decades of progress in just four months.”

Moore’s statement said Biden and other officials involved didn’t seem to have the intelligence they needed “to predict the speed of Afghanistan’s collapse and the danger to U.S. citizens and partners in the context of a hasty withdrawal.”

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