- U.S. representatives Seth Morton and Peter Major travel to Afghanistan.
- Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi issued a condemnation.
- Morton and Major, who troubled former Iraqi war veterans, wanted to examine the supervisory role of Congress.
Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives traveled to Afghanistan on Tuesday, arousing condemnation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi said such travel may divert resources used to evacuate Americans and Afghans at risk.
Read | “Please let us in the car”: the heartbreak of the Kabul Airport fleet
Democratic Rep. Seth Morton and Republican Rep. Peter Major both served in the Iraq War before running for Congress. They stated in a statement that they went to Kabul to collect information and serve as congressional oversight duties. a part of.
They said in a statement after they left Kabul: “The United States has a moral obligation to our citizens and loyal allies, and we must ensure that this obligation is fulfilled.”
After their visit was made public, Pelosi sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives, which did not mention Moulton or Major, but warned that the Pentagon and the State Department had asked lawmakers not to travel to Afghanistan “during this dangerous time.” .
Democrat Pelosi told reporters that many members of the House of Representatives want to go to Afghanistan, but she said in her letter that such a trip is unwise.
She said: “Members’ travel to Afghanistan and neighboring countries will unnecessarily divert the required resources from the priority task of safely and quickly evacuation of the U.S. and Afghans in danger from Afghanistan.”
Chaotic scene
Moulton and Meijer said before their visit that they hoped that US President Joe Biden (Joe Biden) would extend his August 31 deadline to end the evacuation and the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
“After talking with the local commander and seeing the situation here, it was obvious because we started to evacuate too late, no matter what we do, even by September 11th, we won’t let everyone evacuate on time,” they Say. Said.
Biden came under fire for not starting the evacuation early and the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport. After the Taliban took over, Americans and vulnerable Afghans were airlifted out of the country.
The President said on Tuesday that the U.S. military has helped evacuate 70,700 people since August 14.
He added that the United States is working to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan by August 31, but achieving this goal depends on the continued cooperation of the Taliban.
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