Waltz Questions Officials Over Afghanistan Withdrawal

Florida Rep. Mike Waltz (R) continues to question the United States' military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. During a House Foreign Affairs Oversight & Accountability Subcommittee hearing, Rep. Waltz pressed military officials regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Retired Colonel Seth Krummrich and Command Sergeant Major Jacob Smith were both on the hot seat this week as Rep. Waltz grilled both over the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Since the United States’ withdrawal, the Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan, which has resulted in an oppressive government. Republicans have largely blamed President Joe Biden (D) for the results and have launched an effort to investigate the withdrawal.

With family members affected by the Taliban in attendance to the hearing, Rep. Waltz questioned the military’s procedure, which also resulted in people that had cooperated with the United States being left behind and vulnerable.

In questioning CSM Smith, Waltz asked, “were you aware of any contingency planning to deal with our SIVs, key Afghans like ministry officials, journalists, women activists, people that the Taliban had obviously targeted for twenty years and would continue, including, heck, our own U.S. citizens; any contingency planning as part of this rapid withdrawal to get those folks out should our assumptions that the Afghan government could hold and the Afghan military would hold would fail. Any contingency planning along those lines?”

Col. Krummrich is the one that responded to the inquiry, saying that there was no contingency planning, “and it became very painfully obvious, under extreme duress, how big of a gap that that was.”

“So this was an utter lack of planning that their loved ones paid the ultimate price for… our Afghan allies, right now, today, are being hunted down as we speak,” Waltz lamented, adding that those who cooperated with the U.S. “are still paying the price and future American soldiers have to go back and clean up this mess as we’ve had to do with Iraq from the Obama Administration’s decisions.”

Waltz’ exchange with the officials can be viewed here.